But that in no way undercuts Jerome's point: that an informed polity requires a dedicated system for aggregating and disseminating information ("news").
The blogosphere has not superseded the MSM in this function; rather, major parts of the blogosphere are built on top of its product.
So until the blogiverse is capable of performing this function systematically, I have to agree with Jerome:
we need the facts to be able to fight these. And while blog reporters are doing an increasingly important job, we'll still have to rely on journalists and newspapers to a large extent to get these.
At this point in time, many readers and writers (or internet "users" especially) are trained to apprehend the quality of information primarily by it's quantity, for example...
So you're suggesting IndyMedia "impact" is low or weak, because the share of IndyMedia readers is low among all "converted" readers which is a subset of all readers? That is an extraordinary claim. To what other "alternative news agency" does one compare IndyMedia exposure? I hope not Technocrati or Digg clients' sitemeter counters --confirming the overwhelming tendancy of blog operators to reproduce MSM stories.
On the other hand, are you saying "market penetration" measures the number of reporters (and "stringers") assigned to a particular geographic market? If so, my understanding is that the Independent Media Center (IndyMedia) franchise operates regional servers worldwide to collect and broadcast news files submitted by volunteer reporters, commentators, and translators. Could one reasonably argue "low impact," or thin coverage of local, regional, worldwide events if the total numbers of volunteers is unknown? Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
- Jake If you only spend 20 minutes of the rest of your life on economics, go spend them here.
this needs to be said more often. Truth unfolds in time through a communal process.
