"The mountainous, steaming quantity of horsedung out there on the internet...."
This is an often repeated notion, and it is completely wrongheaded. Indeed, such statements actually disguise prejudices and special interests.
First, they reflect an anti-democratic attitude, an assumption of superiority over the masses "out there."
The fact is that the Internet contains nearly everything that humanity does, both good and bad. The Internet has wonderful creations by bright minds as well as junk of every description.
If you do not have the judgment and background to distinguish one from the other, then likely you are also having serious trouble in regular life too.
Traditional print journalists and pundits are very fond of repeating Nigel Farndale's bromides. They like to portray themselves as giving the public authoritative and informed comment that is now endangered.
Why?
I think it is little more than their sensing the economic erosion of traditional media and fear losing their quite privileged positions to some of the sweaty masses.
The real truth is that traditional newspapers have failed the public so many, many times, that they have lost considerable credibility and authority. When was the last time a major newspaper dug into something really important and brought the public the information it needs to cast informed ballots? It certainly was missing during the Iraq horror, as it was missing for much the of the American holocaust in Vietnam or in the ghastly reign of J.Edgar Hoover in Washington.
It is a poorly kept secret that various newspapers put out various “lines” on important public issues and have done so since their beginning. We all know that political parties have favorite newspapers and plant stories. We all know that certain government agencies plant stories and selectively leak.
And we all know that many columnists, draped in togas of disinterested authority and adorned with laurels of wisdom, are effectively paid propagandists. People like Mark Steyn or Thomas Friedman spring instantly to mind.
That sad situation has been true since at least the time of Thomas Jefferson when he was American Secretary of State and secretly put Philip Freneau and James Callender on the government payroll to write and publish attacks on George Washington’s administration.
Well, the technology of the Internet has begun to free us from the confines of traditional newspaper publishing, and it is not such a bad thing when you consider the true record of establishment newspapers.
As a wise American once said, there is freedom of the press only for those who own one.
"HERE'S TO JOURNALISTIC INTEGRITY!"
"HEY, I'LL DRINK TO THAT!"
