There you go, it’s those undercover agents at fault, don’t you know. Undermining those earnest warriors in the WH who just want intelligence they can work with.

http://www.aim.org/special_report/4096_0_8_0_C/

That means (overall) the popular faction of the Punditocracy, not the Z-listers.

Note, per Jon Garfunkel, listing new voices would entail editorial judgment.

Recursively, it’s the core problem all over again – either select by editors, or just get the loudest voices. Pick one.

The people you note are the ones who are considered “citizen journalists”–semantically speaking they are journalists who have become private citizens again and are perceived by a large swath of the populace as the ones who have the most wizened commentary on J. Miller

There is more respect for journalists who take on the mantel of citzenry than there is for citizens who try to probe these types issues in their own unique ways. Take a look at this piece in the On-line Journalism Review to see what is being said/thought about what is now being called “grassroots journalism”

http://www.ojr.org/ojr/stories/051006/

The perception of “grassroots journalism” as having little to no merit isn’t limited to guys like Tom Grubisich. When it comes to matters pertaining to media and journalism, it seems that blog readers might rather hear commentary from former professionals than from their neighbors. The perception may be that the “good information” comes from those who used to be on the inside rather than from those who live next door.

This makes it difficult for new voices to be heard.

I know a bit about this because, at this moment, I’m a “citizen journalist” attempting to report on blog conferences from a grassroots perspective (at BlogOn, someone told me I was the only Real Blogger there–a plum postion indeed!) I go to events like BlogOn and We Media and the upcoming event at Berkman because I want to sythesize and convey conference info on a peer-to-peer level. I am trying to start conversation among those of us in the Long Tail because there isn’t much of it (although finding the right voice is difficult).

Yet what is said at alot of conferences–among media people, among intellectuals/philosophers, and among marketers/p.r. folks–will eventually effect all of us who blog. Our freedom of speech, freedom of choice, and sense of who we are in the digital world will be shaped by what is being tossed around by people who have little to no contact with The People. And that, more than anything, frightens me.

It should frighten–and motivate–alot more of us to cultivate and grow our voices in the blogosphere.

It’s unfortunate that a number of blogs have chosen the Rush route, pronouncing fables as if they were hards news … and as unfortunate that a large number of blogger/commenters then quote them constantly, again as if fables were a great substitute for reality. Why, mercy me! and these fables confirm firmly held beliefs of one sort or another.

Just as a listener knows when they tune in to Fox ‘news’ that they will hear a certain spin, your blogger knows when he/she accesses Powerline or Kos just what direction their news reports will take.

At least, we’re getting a track record on what to credit and what starts off discredited by its very source. The J.Miller case has been really stupefying for the number of posts that announced ‘news’ that simply didn’t exist, trying to color facts before they were ‘out’.

Who supports her? Who knows? until we know what she has to say. The best aspect of her actions in the story to date is that Miller DID NOT out a CIA covert operative. For that I believe she deserves a bit of credit. So to that extent, Jeff, you can count me as a supporter. Even though she had learned the hard way not to put too much weight on her sources’ claims/news leads.

When it comes to “citizen journalism” it’s the journalists who decided to become citizens that count…not the citizens who are trying to do the journalism thing without the degree. It’s kind of like trying to fly without wings.

Even if they were, how would they choose the blogs to use. It would be the same top blog sites of which many have become far detached from the reasons why they started it.

Okay, I’ll go and lie down now. This was only a passing bout of insanity.

Beautiful.

It’s a club…no one wants to get too far ahead of the herd for fear of the tables being turned on them. Prior to last week press organizations were showeing Miller with awards….it’s going to take a while for the gang to feel safe enough to give Judy a shove…

“Essential”?

So essential, I guess, that this “moral leader” (of who?!?!?) and “institution” (oh what a loaded, bloated, egotistical, vomit-inducing term that is) waited months to address fundamental questions about its own reporting.

It’s simply sickening that a former Timesman like Jones refuses to call a spade a spade here. Why pull the punches, Alex? The lapse in journalism at the Times over the past few years is inexcusable and the fact that journalists are still giving deferential reverence to the Gray Lady with comments like Jones’ shows just how insular the upper echelons of journalism remains.