Thanks Dave
Dave over at GreaterFalls.com gave us a nice little plug on the coal plant stuff. Thanks Dave! And a commenter made an interesting point about the Tribune:
The local media are NOT qualified to do the necessary in-depth reporting concerning the Highwood Coal Plant and the financial exposure of the City of Great Falls, other than to repeat any hand-outs that they are given. The local media know that they are NOT qualified and that’s why they will “over look” what GeeGuy and Firefly are reporting because reporting what GeeGuy and Firefly are doing would be a public admission that the local media are NOT qualified.What do you all think? Will the Tribune report this story well, or will they print what they are told by the various 'sides?'
Should there be any sort of overlap between the 'blogs and the newspapers? If so, what should it be? Should 'blogs be a source for newspapers?
Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?
6 comments:
A reputable newspaper has the resposibility to do some minmal investigative study on a story, particularly one such as HGS where hundreds of millions will be spent. In my view the Tribune does not qualify as a reptable newspaper. Therefore I have not renewed my subscription and have opted to get the news from on-line sources (including Blogs) where I can get more of the facts!
To answer your question, sure, as long as the the quality of the work is on par with what you've accomplished here.
Generally, blogs are not news or journalism. Their power and purpose (in relation to news) is keeping the mainstream media honest. Typically, by shedding light on things the mainstream media would otherwise ignore, by giving a sense of public opinion, and sometimes doing the digging for the "real" journalists.
This is a rare instance where the bloggers are doing the job of investigative reporting, and handing the material, sources, and questions to the journalists. They should say thanks and take it to a wider audience, and give the public all the facts. If the Trib ignores everything done by GeeGuy and Firefly, it will leave the distinct impression of arrogance, foolishness, and bias. Again.
This is not quite on the journalism topic --
Wednesday evening I heard a radio advertisement promoting the coal plant generator on KMON.
It had the same ring to it as the "deregulation will lower prices" and "PPL is Montana" propaganda we heard earlier.
Exactly right. The local stooges that do the local news are barely aware of what's going on in Great Falls. The city gov't hands them the news... and that's what we get. At least they don't make up the news, like the Trib does.
Qualified to do the story? probably.
Capable of doing the story? Should be.
Committed to doing the story? Err, well, ah...
The local paper didn't even get current handouts to write those stories off of. Glad the City gave them access. Bravo.
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