A call for liberals to stay with Huffington, unless it changes

[HEyHEY]

So, overnight you're not going to see a sudden influx of right wing and spun news coming out of the Huffington post. It will likely be a GREAT deal of what you're used to reading. So, rather than ignore the good work that will be done on the HP over the next few months.... why don't you KEEP reading it? IF it changes, then abandon it.

Why have a kneejerk reaction that essentially prevents useful information from reaching your brain? We're supposed to be the smart ones. Sit back, analyze and then make a decision. Suddenly boycotting Huffington is no different than right wingers pulling the same shit for equally stupid reasons like a hollywood actor doing a gay scene.

Plus, abandoning it now would play more into the hands of your foes more than you think. You suddenly aren't reading ANY of the stuff on the site, making you less informed.

Anyone agree?

[ClassWarrior]

1. Unrecs? Really? Are we really against useful progressive information?

NGU.

[HEyHEY]

2. I guess "getting even" with Arianna is more important.

[ClassWarrior]

3. Yeah, not only are we supposed to be the "smart ones," but the other guys are supposed to be...

...the vengeful ones. Makes one wonder.

NGU.

[Hutzpa]

35. These are the kind of reverse psychology BS mumbo jumbo that gets under my skin.

How does that make you smart? when the very same people you've relied on just sold out on you
and we are suppose to accept it and do nothing, oh I get it, look the other way.

ack!

[Old and In the Way]

4. I'll continue to read and post there.

I happen to like the layout and organization of the HuffPo. If AOL wants to transition it into another RW propaganda outlet, they'll end up as just another crappy site and a wasted $315MM investment. They'd be stupid to mess with a winning formula. But the HuffPo readers aren't stupid....if they crapify it, their reader base will go elsewhere.

[leftstreet]

5. K&R Most M$M 'news' is pro-corporate anyway

Places like HuffPo just react to the DoublePlusGood crap message of the day.

I doubt they'll stop doing that. No one would read it

The interesting thing here will be if HuffPo can change AOL content. I think I read they'll have editorial control to some degree

[RandomThoughts]

6. Could be they are trying to be more honest.

If they always were righties. If that is the case, then the problem goes back to not enough balance in news diversity.

[krispos42]

7. How would the daily reader know it changes?

What if it creeps and nobody except a few activists notice? Where is the line in the sand where people say "That's it, it's gone corporate, time to go"?

I find the situation interesting. On the one hand, if liberals immediately abandon any independent website that gets bought by the corporate media, then the corporate media knows they can make any non-corporate independent website "go away" simply by purchasing it. On the other hand, if liberals give it a chance, they're rewarding people that sell out solely for money in the ideological world of politics. Either the corporate media company gradually changes it to be corporatist, or the site collapses and they enjoy a nice tax write-off for the business loss.

[HEyHEY]

8. They will notice.

Even if it's slow, they will.

[hlthe2b]

9. I'll wait and watch... besides...

I've had an AOL email account for nearly two decades, that I still occasionally use.

[ponderingmuch]

10. Not abandoning, just expanding

My instinct is still compelling me to go to HuffPo first, but I have lost about 10 of my "friends" so I am looking for where they have gone.

I really liked reading what the 10 who left had to say!

[musette_sf]

11. If the moderation on the comments on Mr Blackwell's blog

(he of the 80 Lb Paper Voter Registration Requirement) messes with the ratio of righteous snark and ridicule posts, to FUXBot and astroturf posts, to in any way diminish the vaster volume of righteous snark and ridicule, I'll be gone.

[Sherman A1]

12. No

But Thank You For Asking.

[Name removed]

13. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Dragonfly]

33. I agree w/you in the

sense that there is more than enough evidence about our collective demise, and, why it is happening in "quick time" throughout the land. Whether one chooses to read one or the other of hundreds of "it's broken,let's fix it" websites doesn't matter, in my view, because we know what must be done, and soon, with progressive and inclusive unity.

I respect your humorous take on the development. Perhaps talking with people who both care about and want to get to know each other better is a stage we can approach now....I'll still read my current rotation of fave sites, too.

[Sherman A1]

39. Precisely

If a story is of interest no matter the source, I will give it a look, but I offer no blind allegiance to any group or website. We need to continue the discussion, yet I fear we are too late.

[NuclearDem]

14. I'm sticking with it

Same reason I'm sticking with MSNBC. We all cut and run from our outlets because of a change in management, very soon we're going to be left with nothing.

MSNBC's ratings tank, it gets shut down.

HuffPo loses a lot of traffic, it gets shut down.

Rinse and repeat with every other liberal media outlet until there's nothing left for us.

[HEyHEY]

15. They don't think that far ahead, they're like teenagers

[NuclearDem]

16. Operation Kneejerk seems to be in effect at DU...

[peace frog]

17. Same here

unless and until they abandon us. And if HuffPo and MSNBC make a permanent turn to the right, they will lose me so quickly I'll leave skid marks. Here's hoping Current will expand exponentially with the addition of KO.

[Zephie]

18. I still like Huffpo and Arianna as well

There aren't many options out there for news sources that are relatively liberal, ı intend to hang on as long as possible. Or at least until KOs new Current show!

[muriel_volestrangler]

19. Was it worth staying with in the first place?

I realise that, coming from outside North America, it was going to be of less interest to me anyway, but, whenever I looked at a story on it that a DUer had linked to, it seemed to be a rewrite of some other site's story. I'd always prefer people to link to the article written by the real journalist, who interviews the actual people in the story, rather than something third-hand.

The 'other stories' offered up next to the one I went to read nearly always seemed to be celebrity fluff, and it was also getting a reputation for printing meaningless twaddle on the subject of health and science from con-artists like Deepak Chopra.

[RainDog]

20. I rarely read huffpo - I find it an annoying site

full of a lot of nothing.

[Obamanaut]

21. Oh, what to do?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=379210&mesg_id=379210

[Dappleganger]

22. Sorry, it's not a kneejerk reaction to have disdain for corporations.

Besides, that site has been going downhill for several years. I am not less informed by not reading it, just more selective. Quite honestly most of their news stuff are things I find on my own (and before they "break" it).

[ClassWarrior]

23. Good for you! You're ahead of the curve! Jolly good!

:eyes:

Sure, have disdain for corporations. I know I do. But have an appreciation for a large progressive mouthpiece. You're in the loop, you find stuff on your own - but a site like that, with its "slow breaking news," still gains the attention of people who aren't hardcore like us. So if it's getting the progressive word out, why tear it down? If it's not good for you but it's good for someone else, wouldn't it be better for all of us to avoid talking it down?

NGU.

[otohara]

24. Some of HP Headlines Are Embarrassing

I expect now that AOL owns it, the misleading and outrageous headlines will get worse.

[JoePhilly]

25. +1

[ClassWarrior]

28. Some of the comments on DU are embarrassing. Humans embarrass one another. So?

NGU.

[Name removed]

29. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[otohara]

32. So?

Humans are sensitive, aren't they?

[highplainsdem]

37. +1

[ohheckyeah]

26. I've never liked Huffington

and wouldn't click on links to that site. It's a mess of a website.

[guardian]

27. I'll continue to read HuffPo

until the content changes.

[bvar22]

30. I've never let a small group of authoritarian loudmouths...

...determine where I get my information.
I will continue to use the HuffPo and a wide variety of other sources.
I will decide for myself what is worth keeping, and what is trash.

When the trash outweighs the truth, I'll stop using HuffPo.
The same goes for DU.

Cheers!


"The gross national product measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to country. It measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile; and it can tell us everything about America except whether we are proud to be Americans"


---Robert F. Kennedy, 1968

[Curmudgeoness]

31. I agree. We don't know if changes will occur. The only problem

I have is that often, the changes at first as so subtle that you don't even realize they are happening until one day you wake up and realize just how far they have gone. But at this point, I will continue to frequent HP

[Hutzpa]

34. No sale n/t

[HEyHEY]

38. So you basically are refusing to come, see, read comprehend and understand?

[highplainsdem]

36. I think it's already looking more like a tabloid than usual, this evening.

At least the revolution in Egypt is the top story -- I guess we can be thankful it isn't anything about Palin, or about some Hollywood celebrity. But there does seem to be more trivia than usual in the mix on their home page, which is not what I'd expect given what just happened in world news.