The following articles present blogs as something more than a fad, more than leisure-time rambling. Blogs can be a powerful tool. They offer a chance to bypass traditional media.

I have often heard that professional journalism is unbiased. Bullfeathers. If you've never read a liberally-slanted newspaper, watched a conservative news report, or listened to reactionary radio, you've had your head in the sand. Yes, blogs are inherently biased, but so is professional journalism. The difference is that bloggers don't pretend to be unbiased. What you see is what you get. It's raw, unrefined, and honest as hell. Sure, there's a lot of B.S. floating around out there. Heck, look at some of the crap I post. 😉 We have a choice, though, whether or not to accept it. When traditional news media claim to be presenting the whole, unadulterated truth, we tend to feel obligated to believe it. We're told it's the truth and that we can trust them and their sources. Weblogs, on the other hand, offer no promises. Take it or leave it. Make your own opinions. Hear all sides of story. If you read enough biased reports of an event, eventually the truth filters out. It's there in every point of view once you get by imperfect memories, prejudice, and emotions.

Now it's time I step off my soap box for a moment and go find some news bloggers.

P.S. I'd be a hypocrite if I completely bashed traditional news outlets. Obviously, I link to such sites. However, I offer my own opinions on matters reported on those pages and I encourage my readership (Hello? Is there anybody out there?) to do the same.

Are Bloggers Journalists?

The Blogging Revolution

Done any blogging lately?

Antidote to the Liberal Monotone: Blogging

Google Time Bomb

Borg Journalism