tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19150297.post1737633606493769023..comments2023-07-04T10:30:14.276-04:00Comments on Intrepid Liberal Journal: Who Are the Real Gate Crashers?Robert Ellmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03526287813354418269noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19150297.post-86963059407589886172007-05-23T19:48:00.000-04:002007-05-23T19:48:00.000-04:00What corrupts politics is the same thing that corr...What corrupts politics is the same thing that corrupts the press (or the media): currency. In our country, straightforwardly enough, currency is money.<BR/><BR/>I remember I conversation I had with a woman in East Berlin, when it was still East Berlin. She tried to defend her political system (oddly enough) by pointing out that her ostensibly "communist" state was not prone to monetary corruption. But there was another kind of currency at work in that government and in that time, it was ideology. The greater your ideological loyalty, the greater your wealth and standing. The wealthiest, with second homes and Western cars, were those whose ideology had elevated them into the very highest offices of the state.<BR/><BR/>I don't yet see how bloggers will succumb to the corruption of money. Most, if not all, *genuine* bloggers work for no one and gain little if anything, monetarily. You, for example, couldn't so much as feed a rat on the rewards of your blog.<BR/><BR/>In the mainstream media, on the other hand, there is no reporter who does not have to answer to the exigencies of money. Why do any reporters still go to the White House Press Briefings? -- knowing full well that these briefings are nothing more than staged propaganda? Because each network reporter (and they have stated this) knows that if they don't show up, the other guy will. It's about the money, not the news.<BR/><BR/>Bloggers don't blog because because it was the only paying job they could find. They do it for reasons other than monetary gain. This means that some of them are going to be biased and unreliable, but the readership, so far, seems able to distinguish.<BR/><BR/>I don't know currency might corrupt the blogosphere. The frauds are quickly weeded out. If the Daily Kos, (for monetary reasons) decides to sell its name to CNN, MSNBC, or FOX, I would expect its quality to decline, its independence to diminish, and its readership to thin. Another blog would take its place.<BR/><BR/>I think the only thing that could destroy the blogosphere would be equally harmful to the Internet as a whole.<BR/><BR/>It's hardly a mystery why the Chinese Government is terrified of the internet -- as are all such states.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19150297.post-3955318679113266122007-05-22T19:06:00.000-04:002007-05-22T19:06:00.000-04:00I really enjoyed this post. I would have to add a ...I really enjoyed this post. <BR/><BR/>I would have to add a third fear: that citizen journalists will not have access to the darkest corners of our decisionmaking and therefore always be limited.Nelsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01168659716980028654noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19150297.post-54230417355968339632007-05-21T22:16:00.000-04:002007-05-21T22:16:00.000-04:00Right on! I think you hit upon the central point o...Right on! I think you hit upon the central point of blogging and other such netroots activities that often gets lost. While blogs are good ways to call people to action, or get them to donate money, political blogging at its hard will be about citizen journalism, and this is where its true power lies.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com