Blogs as “news” sources.
An old post that I thought I had hit “Publish” on, but apparently didn’t…
You know, I’m really getting tired of blogs and other opinion pieces being considered as news. They are not news. They are editorials. They are opinions. They are not news.
I know, this comes off as being rather odd considering that I own a site that maintains one of the largest collections of some of the most thoughtful and well-considered opinion pieces from average, ordinary people. Wouldn’t I want America’s Debate to be considered a news source?
Well, it’s a double-edged sword. Sure, I would like the publicity that would come with being considered a “news source.” But, at the same time, I know that we are in fact not a news organization. We are an opinion organization, plain and simple. To consider us as news would be incorrect.
That doesn’t mean, however, that opinion pieces posted to America’s Debate couldn’t be news. I know of two distinct situations where potential submissions could have, and likely would have, been considered “news.”
This also doesn’t mean that we are not a valuable source for legitimate news.
Now that the major media seems to have thrown all semblance of legitimacy out the window, though, blogs are news. We see it everywhere. Television, radio, and print pieces from, for lack of a better term, the corporate-owned media outlets have all used blogs as sources.
That’s right, the source for that article you read may be a thirty-five year old unemployed man who lives in his mother’s basement and hasn’t had physical contact with a non-related member of the opposite sex in years.
