Politcal bloggers scoop the mainstream media on Plamegate

[kpete]

Bloggers now routinely break the major stories of the day. And their reports are getting sucked into the twenty-four-hour news cycle. "They're looking for scraps, rumors," says MSNBC Countdown host Keith Olbermann. "They'll spend hours that I don't have to go digging." According to John Byrne, the twenty-four-year-old whiz behind the Raw Story, "Bloggers go where the mainstream media fears to tread."

Here is a roundup of the bloggers who've led the media pack on Plamegate:

Raw Story, Huffington Post, Washington note (with descriptions)

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/_/id/8719209?pageid=rs.Politics&pageregion=single4&rnd=1131047993937&has-player=true&version=6.0.8.1024

[mzmolly]

1. Kicked and recommended.

And DU scoops lots of the bloggers - just for the record ;)

[jsamuel]

2. congrats all!

[Stephanie]

3. cheers to Raw Story!

:toast:

[Cha]

4. The m$m make it so

easy since all they do is sit on their lazy bums and rewrite the spin. No investigations..they must be very afraid of what they will find :scared:


Cool!

[Lone_Star_Dem]

5. Congratulations bloggers!

You've provided a service that is appreciated.

Now, what's in the works to deal with the impending FEC regulations?

[MelissaB]

6. How about that? Congratulations, guys!

:toast:

[AnnInLa]

7. By the time I hear a story on the "nightly news"

I have already read about it on the librul political blogs a few days earlier. And they wonder why more and more people are getting their news from the internet?? (and TDS, too!)

Just a reminder: I recently sent a small check to John Aravosis over at www.americablog.blogspot.com, and to Crooks and Liars....we need to support our blogs when they have a fund drive. What would we do without them? Please consider supporting them with your $$, just like you support DU. Half of the stuff we report on DU comes from these hard working bloggers!

[stop the bleeding]

8. 3 cheers for bloggers and the "internets"

:bounce::bounce::bounce:

[nashville_brook]

9. it's not just the labor involved -- altho that's a BIG part with

deadlines, "more productive staff" i.e. less staff -- is a major problem.

but here's my experience from publishing an alternative newsweekly:

we'd ROUTINELY take calls from the local dailies on stories that their editors SIMPLY WOULD NOT BREAK. i'm not talking about HOT stories per se -- just issues and events that were considered outside of the local dialogue. the very interesting thing was that as soon as we broke the story, THEN the local news would cover OUR COVERAGE. it was the only "safe" way they could get the stories broadcast.

i don't have a better way of saying this -- it's sociology of journalism. it's wasn't conspiracy or the invisible hand of corporate interest: it's sociology.

the mainstream has a NARRATIVE. it has decorum and the journalists themselves have relationships and contacts that must be cultivated. also, journalists who have covered their beats have established the CONTOUR of debate. alternative news answers to a different AUTHORITY and the contour of our dialogue isn't quite so rigid.

i'm not unpacking this as well as it needs to be -- but the interesting fact here is that local media relied on us to BREAK the hard stuff. they were then FREE to cover the story THRU us.

[glitch]

17. Very interesting, and quite understandable. It's the same in any

organization. Once a power structure is established, it's very hard to buck.

So far there is no real power structure with blogs. As soon as some "mainstream" power is established they tend to conserve that power by toeing closer to the line (IMO DailyKos is an example of this).
But then what happens? The truth will out, and fresh blogs sprout.

Edit to add: the shift to "acceptable" doesn't always happen. There are some terrific genuine journalists out there who remain true to their craft. Let's hope our favorites keep this natural tendency toward mainstream acceptance in mind, and fight it.

[Catfight]

10. Then Keith's pay should be cut to that of a blogger and start paying

bloggers for doing the job of the journalist. MSNBC should fire Keith Oblerman for laziness.

[jsamuel]

12. your $#@%

[MelissaB]

14. Nah, just put a couple on the payroll.

OTOH, he gets to read all their work for nothing.

Hey, Keith, if your're listening...here's the new scoop bloggers have been pounding out that just made MSM. Cover it, would ya?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x399605

[Jim Sagle]

16. Fuck off.

[GreenPartyVoter]

11. Bloggers are about the only investigative journalists left

[lonestarnot]

13. Wooohooo Raw Story!

[Spazito]

15. WTG Bloggers and a special shout-out to Raw Story!

The mainstream media are getting their asses handed to them by people who know how to actually investigate stories instead of simply regurgitating the press releases they receive.

[Raiden]

18. The media is making itself irrelevant

Thank God for that~