Jezebel 
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New York, 12:48 PM
Thu Dec 3
69 posts in the last 24 hours
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10/15/09
This is the same issue I see with 24-hour cable news network opinion shows like Glenn Beck at al. People can watch these shows, assume the information is correct and go on about their lives in blissful ignorance.
And of course it's great to have opinionated views and debates in the media - but what happens when audience members don't recognize - or CARE to recognize - the difference from fact-checked information? Or when news outlets don't make an effort to clearly distinguish opinion from fact? Slippery slope there. #helenthomas
10/15/09
10/15/09
if we waited for the mainstream media to catch on to what we're *actaully* interested in or to blow the whistle when there's trouble, we'd be SOL...and ralph lauren would still be removing pelvic bones. #helenthomas
10/15/09
10/15/09
i consider mainstream to be the old-school sources of info: cable news, nightly news, newspapers and magazines.
i wouldn't include blogs on the list but that isn't meant to denigrate their influence--in fact, that's my point.
that blogs (and normal people on the street) have the power to influence and chronicle events without a mainstream filter is pretty sweet and helen thomas, bless her, love her, needn't underestimate the "people's" ability to report truthfully.
even if we don't *always* get it right, neither do the people who get paid to report. (except for the national enquirer, lol) #helenthomas
10/15/09
Here, we have news stories or studies presented to us a certain way. A lot is opinion. And then we react or criticize or whatever in the comments. We get to speculate on breaking news and share additional information.
I think of blogs and traditional news sources as supplementing each other, not replacing. #helenthomas
10/15/09
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10/15/09
I wish I could heart you 23984 more times. Helen Thomas talks about this in her book "Watchdogs of Democracy?" There's a news-circle issue here where if a popular blog reports something, other news agencies feel obligated to pick it up and post their own versions to somehow show that they're covering all the bases, regardless of whether or not they SHOULD be doing this. For example, how the LA Times will post their own version of a TMZ story. Should they be doing that? No. And, the 24-hour news cycle makes this problem worse because there's a never-ending news hole to fill. #helenthomas
10/15/09
10/15/09
10/15/09
I don't think she gets that the Web can and will make journalism better, but the way to do that hasn't been fully realized yet. We're getting there, but it's sad when an icon like Helen doesn't get it and just puts the whole medium down. As an under-30 in the industry, I see her narrow-minded opinion all the damn time and it's doing more harm than good.
I still love her, though. #helenthomas
10/15/09
I will be interested to see how it all plays out in the future. #helenthomas
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10/15/09
Re: the blogs, I do think it's unfortunate that some people dismiss them as if they're a single entity -- there's a wide spectrum of blogging on the Internet, and some blogs are more respectable/respected than others. Kinda like how some newspapers have always been more respectable/respected than others.
Still, I don't hold Helen's blog comments against her. She gets a pass on that based on the overwhelming abundance of awesomeness she displays in other areas. #helenthomas
08/31/09
It reminded me of how I always get pissed off when people say that women were eventually "granted" the right to vote. I would argue that the right wasn't "granted," but, finally, after a long struggle, "acknowledged."
Same goes here. The right exists; the question is whether people will continue to refuse to recognize it. Maybe that's a semantic question, and maybe I'm not correct from a legal perspective - but it's a peeve anyway.
08/31/09
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05/11/09
she has been released now
05/11/09
Lee and Ling are in my thoughts.
05/11/09
This concept, "many speculate that hardliners have gained power in the wake of Kim Jong Il's illness, and are forcing North Korea into an increasingly hostile relationship with the West." is just about the scariest thing I've heard in a long time. Hardliners? So Kim Jong Il is just a big ol' cream puff? I know so little about North Korea, but that idea is mind-boggling.