After my post yesterday, a reader brought up a really good point.
In order to fill the news void that has been vacated by actual reporters, many outlets now rely on public reporting or the "man on the street" perspective.
This is especially rampant on local news, but it always amazes me when a news institution like CNN starts reading Twitter posts and reader emails as their way of reporting the news. Now I know there are some really educated people out there that CNN may be talking to, but I just don't feel that I'm going to get great investigative journalism from someone whose Twitter name is "@Nooz_Junkie69".
Sure this way is much cheaper than paying actual reporters, but are we, the audience, actually benefiting from this style of "reporting"?
Again, I submit to you, that free or cheap is not always better and that one of the few constants I've found in life is that you get what you pay for.
Jared Willis
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