I liked the article by Howard Kurtz. Isn’t that what the media is suppose to do? Play the referee function sometimes. I just think that it is interesting that two bloggers were the ones to call CBS out on the accuracy of the story. I think the most interesting part of the article was a quote from Scott Johnson, “One of the things about a blog is we sometimes act as a clearinghouse for information from readers with an interest in an esoteric area.” I think that this is where the biggest potential for blogging lies. With the internet there is a much broader, much more diverse user base and the likelihood of finding those interested in and knowledgeable about obscure topics in the blogosphere is much higher than in the newsroom. I think it is a good thing for journalists to have not only an editor but the entire blogosphere pressuring them to be factual and accountable.

 

I really liked the open secrets.org. It is definitely a site I will be frequenting in the future. I love all the charts and mathematical break downs of contributions and groups. I also thought the revolving door section was interesting because I never really thought about how congressional members slip in and out of the public and private sectors of Washington and where their political influence really comes from.

 

I liked the clickocracy debate. I think that the ability to donate to candidates with just three simple clicks of the mouse and the ability for anybody to blog about his or her own political preferences gives more pull to typical grassroots organizations. I think the internet alone can very easily diminish or enhance a potential candidate’s chance of winning and I think this frightens many campaign managers but for better or worse this new political medium is not going anywhere.

 

I really appreciated the John Stewart “Baracknophobia” clip. Absolutely hilarious! Sometimes I think Journalism needs more people with John Stewart’s sense of humor to actually do the job of pointing out all the garbage that main stream media likes to pretend is actual news. I also watched the Fox News Madrassa segment. First of all the average America did not know what a Madrassa was let alone what the curriculum at one would be. If you don’t believe me just take a look at the American public school system of the inner cities and poor rural areas. Second, So what if Obama was raised a Muslim. Just because someone is raised a certain religion does not necessarily mean that accept every single extremist doctrine of that religion’s affiliation. We have Christian extremists right here in the U.S.A. that I don’t often agree with. Third, where did this whole he loves terrorists come from? Fox news seriously can’t make the assumption that all Muslims are terrorists and believe that they are really being fair and balanced can they?