Thomas Jefferson Wouldn’t Think Much of Modern Journalism. Blogging – That’s Another Story…
The press at the time of Jefferson and the other founders was raucous, unruly, partisan and full of opinions and political bias. The point is that it wasn’t monolithic, manned overwhelmingly by elite people with the same set of opinions. The blogosphere is closer to that model than the print and broadcast news media today.
The last 7 years have really shown how difficult it is to get a balanced view of things just from watching network news or reading only the AP, Reuters or AFP. Blogs cover a spectrum of political opinion, firsthand reporting, analysis and pointing to stories that deserve more coverage.
The point of press freedom is to expose the people who vote to a wide range of opinion and argument. But as someone said, freedom of the press belongs to those who can afford to own one. The internet and blogging allow anybody to own the equivalent of his own printing press.
