In an age of media consolidation, anonymous sources, and sensationalism, readers represent the last bulwark against the journalistic fakery, sloppy editing and media bias which have emerged as the biggest threats to the integrity of the fourth estate. The Internet offers the average reader the tools needed to identify misquotes, distortions and lies – and the newest corner of the Internet, the blogosphere, provides an outlet to raise the alarm.
How many times do you read something in the newspaper you just know is hooey? You tell your spouse about it on the way out the door in the morning. Maybe you tell your co-workers or friends over lunch. You even consider calling into that talk radio show you hear on the commute home every day. But the day goes by, and you move on to other things, and another lie enters the collective consciousness unchallenged. Besides, what could you have done?
If you have Internet access, a sense of adventure and a bit of time on your hands, the answer is: quite a lot. The Internet – particularly the blogosphere – has leveled the playing field, making it possible for anyone to hold media outlets accountable for what they publish or broadcast.
For the uninitiated, a weblog or “blog” is an online journal with embedded HTML links. Bloggers post information, including links from around the web, on their site, comment on topics of interest to them. They use software such as Blogger (the original), Moveable Type or Radio Userland. (AOL just added its own blogging software, Live Journal.) There are millions of blogs on the Internet, and though most are little more than excursions into the mundane, some of flourished and developed readerships larger than most big-city newspapers.
Blogs are as diverse as websites. In fact, they actually are websites – albeit self-published, dynamic-content websites. They can be about anything, or, like a Seinfeld rerun, about nothing. Most are highly personal journals which offer a glimpse into the life of a complete stranger. Some cover specific topics (technology, entertainment, sports, etc.)
Given their large readership and the practice of linking to news stories and cross-linking to other blogs, they are particularly well-suited to commenting on the media. A story that gets picked up in the blogosphere can be linked and cross-linked on hundreds of websites and be seen by millions of readers.
Many journalists scour the blogs looking for story ideas, further increasing the power and influence of blogs. Just ask Trent Lott, who was forced to resign as Senate Majority Leader in large part due to the effort of bloggers who discovered the story and repeated it over and over until the mainstream media went back and looked at the video from Strom Thurmond’s birthday party and realized the significance of Lott’s remarks.
Blogs, and the bloggers who blog them, have changed the power dynamic in the media by giving readers access to a widely-read, counter-media outlet beyond the control of so-called Big Media and giving a reader a platform from which to speak his or her piece. And this is what gives the average reader an unprecedented opportunity to make a difference. For those ready and willing to take up the banner of truth and accuracy that is all too often dropped by the mainstream media, here are a few steps to get started.
Step # 1: “Too Good To Be True” probably isn’t. If you come across a story with information that fits a little too conveniently into the writer’s premise and does not quite pass “the smell test,” start from the assumption that it is not true and see where that takes you. You may be on to something.
Step # 2: Check the source. In the days before the Internet, the average reader had no simple way to fact-check a writer’s story. Today just about everything is online somewhere. If you know how to use Google you can quickly become a fact-checking nightmare for sloppy, lazy or deceitful writers.
Here are a few of the websites one can utilize when trying to ascertain the accuracy of journalists and their work:
Quotes. Search technology like Google.com allows newspaper readers to enter a few words from a suspect quote and find matching quotes in seconds. Television networks, government agencies and political campaigns often put speeches and transcripts online in searchable text formats. Pay special attention to the presence of an ellipsis in a quote, which can be used to alter the quote or manufacture a new one.
Polls. All of the major polling companies have websites, and polls that make the news are often featured on the home page of those websites. PollingReport.com aggregates polling data from a wide variety of sources and lists the most commonly referenced polling services. Read the poll yourself to check if the writer accurately reflected the poll data in his story.
Urban Myths. At a major Democratic fundraiser in California last year, Barbra Streisand quoted a moving, topical – and completely bogus – quote attributed to Shakespeare in making her case against the war in Iraq. Had she first checked Snopes.com – the best compendium of urban myths anywhere – she might have saved herself a good deal of embarrassment.
Government Documents. By law, all federal agencies and Congress are required to make their documents available online. The same is true for most states. Start with the White House website (www.whitehouse.gov) and Thomas (www.thomas.loc.gov), the Congressional website.
Step #3: Document your conclusions. If your hunch was right and you can prove it, you still need to get out the word. Start by writing a document that compares what was published or broadcast with your evidence. Include hyperlinks to the original story and your sources.
Step #4: Contact the media outlet. Write to the ombudsman, senior editor or producer as appropriate and ask that they review your findings and, if they agree with your conclusions, print or broadcast a correction. Remember, you are going to want to publish your correspondence, so do not write anything you do not want the world to see.
Step #5: Search out the “enemy of my enemy.” More often than not, no action will be taken and you will be forced to take the battle to them. Now is the time when you are going to need allies. Always keep in mind that every newspaper has enemies, and thanks to the Internet those enemies are now well-organized and readily accessible. Search the Internet for websites devoted to holding a particular media outlet, journalist or columnist to account.
Timeswatch.org tracks The New York Times. Chronwatch.com covers The San Francisco Chronicle. Liberals have Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (fair.org) to watch conservatives; conservatives has Media Research Council (mrc.org) to watch liberals. Many political Bloggers specialize. Don Luskin monitors New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, while Andrew Sullivan monitors the BBC and Reuters.
STEP #6: Promote, promote, promote. Your strongest potential allies are likely getting thousands of e-mails a week. Your subject header may be your one chance to get their attention. Avoid headers like “check this out” or “interesting story.” Compose a pithy, provocative subject header and e-mail your findings to your potential allies. If you do not hear back, follow up a couple more times without making a nuisance of yourself.
STEP #7: Build on your success. If you do get a “hit” – your story is posted on a website – you now have some credibility in the blogosphere, so turn right around and e-mail a link to other bloggers. Post a link to the story on forums and in the comment sections of web sites and blogs (as appropriate). If you get a response from the media, e-mail that to the other bloggers as well. If the paper runs a correction, send a copy to the bloggers.
Step # 8: Try, try again. If you do not get a response – if your “hot” story gets a cold reception – don’t give up. You may have to submit several ideas before some bloggers will even read your e-mail. So keep at it. You might event want to consider starting your own blog, but that is a story for another day.
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