Bloggers as News Media Trophy Hunters

Boy do I have mixed emotions about this one.

A New York Times article this morning highlights the growing power of bloggers to shake news careers. The most recent case in point was the resignation of Eason Jordan, the top news executive at CNN. He had been attacked by bloggers because he reportedly said that U.S. troops had aimed at and killed journalists. And the most notable previous example was the aftermath of bloggers exposing as false the documents used by Dan Rather and CBS News in their pre-election story about President Bush's National Guard service.

Many in the traditional news media bemoan the growing influence of joggers, seeing them as undisciplined hackers who can turn into a lynch mob because they're not reigned in by the traditional checks and balances of the news room. That's correct, to some extent.

But we've all seen examples among news media, including The New York Times, where the checks and balances of the even the most prestigious newsrooms failed. And those of us who have worked in the news business know that the smaller newspapers and broadcast outlets can't afford to keep adequate checks on what their reporters wrote.

So, yes, theoretically, the blogging revolution can lead to abuses, but those same abuses can come and have come from media outlets that fail to follow commonly accepted journalistic checks and balances. I end up believing that the bogging revolution is a net plus for the public's right to know.