The Original Blogger

Story: Don't Cry For Disappearing NewspapersTotal Replies: 3
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beirwin

May 02, 2009
8:52 PM EDT
You are absolutely right, Carla, in bemoaning the dearth of investigative journalism these days. Bloggers, such as Pamela Jones of Groklaw, have nicely filled some of the void.

You got me thinking about today's bloggers, and I was reminded of I.F. Stone and his I.F. Stone's Weekly ( see http://www.ifstone.org/ ). Izzy was the original blogger. I looked forward to getting this publication in the mail every week. He covered stuff that the newspapers either skimmed over lightly or didn't bother to report on at all. He was relentless in tracking down information which he obtained from the open record, such as the Congressional Record and other official U.S. government records. He was a legend. As one person stated in a tribute to him after he died: "he annoyed some people all the time and all people one time or another.”

phsolide

May 03, 2009
12:37 AM EDT
Pamela Jones of Groklaw is *better* than any print investigative journalist, at least in technical areas.

Her coverage of the SCO fiasco was basically unmatched by anyone in the print press. I wish she'd done that sort of thing during the Microsoft anti-trust trial. The print press, the trade rags especially, seemed content to let MSFT spinners and PR flacks dictate what the trial was about ("freedom to innovate" - snort!), rather than actually going to the courtroom, listening to arguments, reading briefs, etc etc etc. I think that's why the trade press seemed so astonished when Judge Jackson found against MSFT.
helios

May 04, 2009
5:30 AM EDT
When the first Chinese President in history to visit the United States was met by Bill Gates instead of George Bush, that fact needed at least some perfunctory scrutinizing. The fact that it was glossed over by the press and was reported as business as usual is not only remarkable...

It validates my suspicion people know better than to criticize the man who can reach his hand into your computer and do anything he wants at any time. Objective reporting has gone the way of parallel ports. Sure you see one from time to time but it gets rarer as time goes by. I'm an old school kind of guy and I lament their ultimate demise. There is a small, dark part of me that gets a bit of satisfaction from it though...you reap what you write....

Trust me on this one.

h
tuxtom

May 06, 2009
8:18 AM EDT
Quoting:It validates my suspicion people know better than to criticize the man who can reach his hand into your computer and do anything he wants at any time.
Or perhaps people are more afraid of being sued to death than bombed to death.

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