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Should bloggers and citizen journalists have an opportunity to get credentials so they can cover Congress the same way mainstream media journalists do?

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Results so far:

Yes
67% 327 votes Total: 487 votes
No
33% 160 votes

of the largest arguments against bloggers is that the information being reported is often not true or unable to be verified. Well, as much as the controllers of media would like to keep saying over and over with their overused "we're giving the people what they want", which is actually a misrepresentation of the economics of "the market will take care of itself", bloggers exist in a medium that is no different. If people are paying attention to a series of bloggers who are giving erroneous information, eventually those bloggers are going to be seen as deliverers of bad information, so the market will take care of itself by leaving only the stupid and ill informed to continue paying attention to bad media sources. You see, we have somewhat of a similar problem going on right now with mainstream media; we're fed hype and fear on a constant basis, but because there is no check on this media, we're left convinced that there's no better source to which we can turn. That is where alternative media makes such an impact, such a needed impact.

And that's what is feared the most by the established media today. Someone who has spent his or her life building a career in the established media can't help but fear the possibility that another avenue of dissemination and reporting has emerged that no longer holds the same barriers the established one maintains. If I can put together a blog that reports on something about which I am passionate, then I don't have to be concerned about some media controller who decides what will run and what will not run. I put out my message, and I let the people decide. If they don't want to pay attention to me, they don't. If they do, then I've created a massive problem for the established media, and they know that advertisers are going to eventually respond to the fact that people are starting to see something that might hold them in check.

Let's face it. The majority of Americans do not pay attention to the established media at all. Sure, they'll perk up and listen when they hear entertainment news, but aside from that, there's very little concern for what the media reports. I know this as a professor of political science because each semester, I have undergraduates who know less and less about what is going on around them in politics. But if I ask them about entertainment news, it's amazing how much information they know.

But, and here's where I break from established media, I don't blame the common citizen for this. The established media


Below are the top articles rated and ranked by Helium members on:

Should bloggers and citizen journalists have an opportunity to get credentials so they can cover Congress the same way mainstream media journalists do?

Yes
  • 1 of 24

    by Leigh Goessl

    If bloggers and citizen journalists were given the opportunity to cover Congress, this might bring back some of the conventional

    read more

  • 2 of 24

    by Duane Gundrum

    One of the foundational processes of the creation of the United States was the ability for the common person to be able

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No
  • 1 of 9

    by Nicholas Nedin

    As a blogger, a journalist trying to break into a major daily, and someone who has a masters of journalism, I really think

    read more

  • 2 of 9

    by Lee Mathews

    Should someone that gives you advice about which cough syrup they use be allowed to prescribe drugs? No, that doesn't make

    read more

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