Because We Are Not the Mainstream Media! /Juan Cole defends Blogs

[KoKo]

(Credit to Buzzflash for the title...this is a good read)

Tuesday, April 26, 2005
Mainstream Media and Bloggers

Matthew Haughey says he won't read our blogs if we use the term "mainstream media" (a.k.a. MSM).

A news flash for Matt: We don't care.

We don't care if you read our web logs.

The difference, Matt, is that we are independent actors, not part of a small set of multi-billion dollar corporations. The difference is that we are not under the constraints of making a 15% profit. The difference is that we are a distributed information system, whereas MSM is like a set of stand-alone mainframes. The difference is that we can say what we damn well please.

If we were the mainstream media (perhaps better thought of as corporate media), we would care if you threatened to stop reading us. Because although we might be professional news people, we would have the misfortune to be working for corporations that are mainly be about making money.

We would be ordered to try to avoid saying anything too controversial (and I don't mean "Crossfire" controversial), because we would be calculating what would bring in 15% profits per annum on our operating capital. Would hours and hours of television "reportage" and discussion of Michael Jackson or of Terri Schiavo or Scott Peterson (remember?) bring in viewers and advertising dollars? Then that is what we would be giving the public. Bread and circuses.

http://www.juancole.com/2005/04/mainstream-media-and-bloggers-matthew.html

[mogster]

1. Mr. Cole is right to the point as usual

The blogs aren't mainly about making money, but distributing information.

[Demit]

2. Nice anthem to blogging by Cole

"... if Martin Peretz doesn't like what we have to say, he will publish a hatchet job on us in The New Republic, seeking to make us taboo. If you can't shut people up, and you really don't want their voices heard, then all you can do is try to persuade others not to listen to them or give them a platform. The easiest way to do this is to falsely accuse them of racism or Communism some other character flaw unacceptable to polite society. ..."


Yup, this genie is out of the bottle and MSM knows it. And so does Matthew Haughey, whoever the hell he is.

[bloom]

3. "Matthew Haughey, whoever the hell he is"

...that's what I was thinking.


I love the internet.

[KoKo]

4. I had to Google Haughey....here's what I just found:

Matthew Haughey
Creative Commons

Weblog pioneer and creator of MetaFilter.com, Matthew Haughey is currently the Creative Director of Creative Commons, a non-profit organization offering an alternative to full copyright.

* Remixing Culture with RDF: Running a Semantic Web Search in the Wild

Matthew Haughey - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia... Matthew Haughey (born October 10, 1972) is the founder of the community weblog MetaFilter, where he is known as mathowie. ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Haughey - 11k - Apr 24, 2005 - Cached - Similar pages

http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:KaULsroE5kEJ:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Haughey+Matthew+Haughey&hl=en64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:KaULsroE5kEJ:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Haughey+Matthew+Haughey&hl=en

[Career Prole]

5. I just finished reading this

and was going to post it myself...way to go! :thumbsup:

The Prof indulges in an atypical rant, and it's a fine one!

[seabeyond]

6. ya, lol lol dont read

at least we are getting news. mscm (mainstream corporate media) is fluff, all fluff

[MontageOfFreedom]

7. When the bias is weighed down by mister moneybags....

This becomes the only outlet for truth, including the stolen election.

[bpilgrim]

8. M$MW are blogs best advertising

just like our presence in iraq is OBL best advertising for terrorist recruits.


http://images.globalfreepress.com

peace

[KoKo]

9. This post might have been better in "Editorials" but I couldn't get the

"subject line" to coordinate with what's required there..I might ask mods to move it over there..but until then...this post serves as a kick if anyone is interested. It's in a competition with more "timely posts" though...so I'll give it one last shot before I ask mods to move.

[Straight Shooter]

10. Juan Cole runs circles around the SCMSM; they can eat his blog dust.

The so-called Mainstream Media (called Lame Stream by a DU'er) is using a page from Rove's playbook, that if you can't rise to someone's level because you have no merit, then try to tear them down to your level.

Nice try. No cigar. Juan Cole rules.