Mainstream Media Has Blogger Envy
I never knew that newspapers use to hire nurses. This nurse is working in a big city at the news desk. I wonder if she had to have a journalism degree as well as a nursing license in order to write copy for a media outlet back when nurses wore their cap. There was a time when only journalists wrote the news. Now anyone with a computer, a video camera, and a website can out scoop CNN. Kim from Emergiblog told me that some bloggers and a member of the press got into a debate at BlogWorld09. I wasn’t surprised to hear this because mainstream media thinks that its the only legitimate source for news. Come on mainstream media, we both know what’s really going on here. You have blogger envy.
I’m sorry if I sound cranky, mainstream media, but I’m really tired of all your whining. I know you don’t think that citizen journalists check their facts and that we lack reliable news sources. Some of you have even said that our stories aren’t fair and balanced. Do you really want to go there, mainstream media? I’m talking to you Fox News and MSNBC. You’ve got your nerve to criticize anyone about their scruples.
And let’s talk about your content, mainstream media. Really guys, Balloon Boy? There is no way that Walter Cronkite would have been caught flatfooted on that story. Everyone believed Walter when he said, “And that’s the way it is,” because reporters like Walter worked their fannies off to get the story right. Mainstream media, you blew it. Your game is off. You need to get your gumshoe reporters back on their beats. I hate to break it to you mainstream media, but you’re boring. It wouldn’t hurt you to let your hair down and go a little Gonzo with your reporting. Start channeling Hunter S. Thompson. He was a hell of a writer.
I think what really makes you angry, mainstream media, is that a lot of citizen journalists are the sources that YOU turn to for your news. My blogger buddies and I get contacted all the time by the media when reporters need reliable health information for their stories. I give great quotes. Now I hear that the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at USC has invited bloggers to come to talk their students. Take a deep breath, mainstream media. Embrace bloggers. We aren’t going away.
*This blog post was originally published at Nurse Ratched's Place*
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