Proud to Be a Blogger

Our media system serves to maximize profit for its owners and investors, and since tabloid journalism is perhaps one of the most effective ways of ensuring public interest, sex, scandal, disaster, and crime permeate newspaper headlines and masquerades as news on TV. When news making is a commercial industry and the primary focus is on profit, there is no telling to what degree the caliber of the news will suffer. The previous posts, in this bog refer to a multitude of evidence of flaws in this system. Election coverage is just one aspect of where poor news coverage manifests itself. Candidates are relegated to racehorses in a game with polls and strategies being reported with the care of a loudspeaker discussing the proximity of a horse from the finishing line. Rather than focusing on providing valuable information to voters, such as the policies and agendas of a candidate, the media seems to treat the whole thing as nothing more than a game, and provides coverage of only the details that would be most intriguing and eye catching to its audience-- in other words most profitable. Survey after survey reveals the degree of public ignorance and apathy regarding our political system. Citizens are more cynical of our government than ever, and voter turnout plummets yearly.
It is in a series of areas that lack competent and sufficient press coverage, but as fluff news continues to be easy and cheap to print, and people continue to be obsessed with celebrity gossip, such as Britney Spears latest divorce, there isn’t going to be much of a demand for change. The flaws in the system are ingrained to such an extent that most people aren’t even aware a problem exits. People’s preferences for news are dictated largely by what they’ve been exposed to in the media in the past, and thus the status quo has been replaced with a very warped definition of news.
As the saying goes, the media does not necessarily tell you what to think, but they tell you what to think about and how to think about it. Watching the news, or picking up a newspaper becomes almost a disheartening task for me. In a way, I feel as though I am furthering the cycle by playing the role of the naïve victim, allowing my interest to be piqued the sensational news story headlines.
But perhaps writing this piece is really part of the solution. To many people, the blogosphere has emerged as a safe haven for the series of flaws plaguing our MSM. Certainly, it is no longer solely in the hands of the Mainstream Media to dictate what it is or isn’t news. Unlike, journalists who are constantly subject to meeting the demands and pressures from above the ladder, and there work is hardly their unbridled expressions, bloggers can deliver their passions and opinions, instantaneously, unfiltered and uncensored. When news publishing is no longer orchestrated by the profit incentive, an environment of sharing and providing quality news and debates becomes feasible. People are writing from interest or passion, or genuine concern. They lack the ulterior motivations that typically govern news production in the MSM; those very same motivations that often hinder quality. When the mainstream media keeps silent about a certain event or issue, but bloggers are outraged the discord between the two mediums lays compelling evidence of flaws and corruption existing in the Big Media. As a result a new standard emerges. Journalists know their work is under tough scrutiny by the internet world.
People nation wide can comment and analyze any event, and if done adequately they can achieve significant internet fame, like the Irish Trojan blog, who acquired fame in revealing the insufficient coverage of Hurricane Katrina on his blog and helped ignite the mainstream media spurring greater coverage over the event. Now has tens of thousands of viewers visiting his blog daily. Skipping right through journalism school, and the intimidating interviews with all the hot shots of the press corps, a person can acquire fame from his own bedroom.

Blog need to be intelligent, sufficiently interesting or compelling but hardly the sensational and juicy what the mainstream media uses to attract people. People just aren’t searching for these kinds of blogs, and besides they can easily get that in Mainstream Media. As a result a new standard emerges in the news world news one with a demand and opportunity for real talent.