1) Increasingly we have been reading how many mainstream press (especially the older guys) are railing out against 'bloggers'. The term blogger, in their opinion, is synonymous with hate speech. They see all of us as losers who are still living at home in our parent's basements, blogging in our underwear and smearing anyone and everyone who we have a whim to degrade that day. They see NO journalistic credibility to someone who isn't credentialed/went to Columbia school of journalism, etc.2) This came to a head recently when an older TV journalist Bob Costas conveyed a forum to discuss this issue (Costas by the way has made his opinion known concerning bloggers long ago) Wrote Costas recently:"it’s one thing if somebody just sets up a blog from their mother’s basement, and they’re a pathetic get-a-life loser, but now that pathetic get-a-life loser can piggyback onto someone who actually has some level of professional accountability and they can be comment No. 17 on Dan Le Batard’s column . That, in most cases, grants a forum to somebody who has no particular insight or responsibility. Most of it is a combination of ignorance or invective.” The moron goes on:"It’s just a high-tech place for idiots to do what they used to do on bar stools or in school yards, if they were school yard bullies..."
3) So it came as no surprise to us at FAUXRUMORS when Costas (ever the even handed journalist) invited H. G. "Buzz" Bissinger, a fellow old man/journalist who also has been a vocal anti blogger to gang up on a well know, popular blogger, Deadspin's Will Leitch. Only saw this part of the show, http://deadspin.com/385770/bissinger-vs-leitch but didn't Bissinger come across as exactly what he stated he detested about bloggers: that they are mean spirited, etc? Its amazing that he prefaced one of his tirades with “I think blogs are dedicated to cruelty, they’re dedicated to dishonesty, they’re dedicated to speed,” Bissinger said. He came at that poor guy with invective after invective. Looking like he must have been the butt of more than a few blog posts that insulted his masculinity or something. (You can bet after that tirade his name may appear on a few blogs! LOL)
4) As our blog has pointed out in just the past week, an actual news paper reporter did exactly what Costas and Bissinger were railing about bloggers. yellow-journalism. The NY Daily News Rangers beat writer, in our opinion, libeled, Sean Avery when they stated/inferred that his emergency hospitalization was due to his life style and not hockey related. (All later refuted) If a blogger had written such nonsense no doubt it would have been used by these guys as proof why blogging is bad, etc. It appears that what Deadspin said is true, most of the anti-blogging crusaders are older guys (most over 50) who are probably not computer literate, or lazy. See their monopoly of spreading opinion/ideas being challenged and as such are reacting like a cornered wild animal; lashing out in fear without knowing all the facts.
4) As our blog has pointed out in just the past week, an actual news paper reporter did exactly what Costas and Bissinger were railing about bloggers. yellow-journalism. The NY Daily News Rangers beat writer, in our opinion, libeled, Sean Avery when they stated/inferred that his emergency hospitalization was due to his life style and not hockey related. (All later refuted) If a blogger had written such nonsense no doubt it would have been used by these guys as proof why blogging is bad, etc. It appears that what Deadspin said is true, most of the anti-blogging crusaders are older guys (most over 50) who are probably not computer literate, or lazy. See their monopoly of spreading opinion/ideas being challenged and as such are reacting like a cornered wild animal; lashing out in fear without knowing all the facts.
5) Buzz Bissinger, Costas, et al and everyone else who thinks that journalism is something you are, not something you do, guess again!. Like any medium, bloggers have the good and the bad. However also like any medium the folks who read vote on who shall continue to be read. If you offer nothing, no one will read/go to your site. If you have quality, folks will notice. If you don't like what's written, another web site is a mere click away. Life will go on Mr's. Bissinger/Costas. Angry OLD men, indeed!
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