Generating "New Journalistic Content"

(How about another Classical Value called The Truth?)

I am a relative newbie to blogging, so let me try to get this right. (And thanks again to my blogdaddy.)

Apparently, bloggers are bad because they:

- tend to be libertarians
- criticize ("leach off") mainstream journalism
- react to articles
- do not generate "new journalistic content"

I had absolutely no idea that blogs or blogging were so offensive!

According to David Carr at Samizdata, at least one aspirant to "real" journalism thinks that the people who blog are some kind of an "elite" who have too much "influence."

A chief complaint is that bloggers:

simply leech off the old-style media. The political and comment blogs that are seen as being at the forefront of the 'blogging revolution' often do little more than write about and react to articles published in traditional media outlets (or 'the Big Media' as they call it), rather than generating new journalistic content. (Emphasis supplied.)

Well, my question today, is: what do you do when the supposedly trustworthy journalists generate deliberately fake content? I am not talking about Jayson Blair in the New York Times, but CNN.

(Just keep reading, and you will no longer wonder why the right-wingnuts call it the "Commie News Network.")

Last week CNN featured one of the most dishonest stories I have ever seen. CNN Miami Bureau Chief John Zarrella featured a story (working in cahoots with Broward County's very antigun Sheriff ) purporting to "contrast" pre-ban "assault weapons" with those available for sale now. The lawman (who should have known better than to engage in such tactics) was shooting into cinderblocks with an AK-47 on FULL AUTO to demonstrate the firepower of the pre ban Kalashnikovs versus the currently available models. Guess what? The cinderblocks subjected to full-auto fire were torn apart, and the guy hardly touched them with the "newer" model! They also claimed that Kalashnikovs with 30 round magazines do more damage than those with 10! How dumb do they think we are?

Anyone familiar with firearms knows that full auto weapons have been virtually banned since 1934. They also know the type of cartridge fired by the Kalashinkov has always been the same, and one fired from a pre-ban magazine is ballistically identical to one fired from a post-ban magazine.

This story is much more than misleading; it is completely bogus.

You will not see this in the news! I couldn't even find it on any of the major news web sites.

Surprised? I am not.

Watch it for yourself here.

(Be sure to click on the archive dated May 16 to watch the original CNN story.)

Or, if you have one of those Real Audio Players, here's the URL which you can copy right into the "Location" area of your Player:

rtsp://rnd31sea.activate.net/am/content/video/hi/20030516-034639r112.rm

Where is the accountability? Big media elitists call bloggers unaccountable, and even elitist.

As a new blogger, I expect to be ignored by all but a few friends and a couple of bloggers. But at least that is something; it makes this worth doing. Will the mainstream journalists begrudge me even that?

They are right about one thing: I am reacting. I started Classical Values as a reaction against those who would put me in prison for my various lifestyle choices. But let's look at the concept of putting people into prison. In order to successfully do that, you have to have power. Guns. Handcuffs, chains, armed force. Courts. Lawyers. Legislatures.

Isn't that elite? If I (or other blogs) complain about things like that, logically speaking, how can the complaining process (reacting if you will) be called "elite?" Sheesh! Next they'll be calling the Federalist Papers an early elitist "blog!"

And why is it that established journalists are complaining that bloggers are members of an elite? What could be more elite that the grand, exalted, Woodward and Bernstein? The Washington Post? The New York Times?

If reacting to or criticizing such an elite is "elitist," then we have reached a new phase of Orwellian newspeak.

The ancients were heavily influenced by a very stubborn and inescapable thing called The Truth. They even had a god for it (I guess I should call her a godess). She was the daughter of Saturn, and her name was Veritas.

Would it be elitist for me to complain that CNN has offended the Pagan gods?

As I said before, I am not here to represent every religion and philosophy known to man, but I think it's fair to say that on this issue, ancient religions, modern religions, and even good old honest atheists are all in accord!