A while back I started the Little Right Wing Circle Jerk, which is founded on two principles:

1) Information found on blogs is at least as accurate as information found in the mainstream media

2) It's morally wrong to hijack someone else's blog.

The second one is fairly easy to agree with, but the first one requires a little nerve to assert.

In my recent surfing, however, I've come across several posts in praise of the excellent job the blogosphere does of getting its facts straight. To honor these intrepid souls, I present:

THE SECOND OCCASIONAL JERKY AWARDS

The Little Right Wing Circle Jerk Award of Merit (or "Jerky") is given to those who defend the honor of blogger credibility vs. the so-called "journalistic integrity " of the mainstream media. I hereby award Jerkies to the following fine folks:

Gerard of American Digest:

Yes, it will be argued, 'the blogging phenomenon is still tiny when compared to the (remarkably shrinking) audience of Dan Rather's Nightly newscast.' That might be a persuasive argument if bloggers were hermits living down in a cypress swamp with only marsh lights and glowing monitors illuminating their fitful existence. Alas for old media, these new media life forms actually have access to the largest and more important media distribution channel on the planet, bigger even then, gasp, The Internet -- Word of Mouth. And in electoral politics, word of mouth bats last and closes the sale.

A blog is not just a page, but a human being -- sometimes several human beings. Each blogger has friends, family, and associates and they read the page, no matter how small. And all those friends, family and associates have other friends, family and associates that they talk to, that they hang out with, that they dine and sleep with. And all those people have backfences of the mind or of the yard and that's how the news gets around. That's how tens of thousands of opinions and facts get spread out to millions upon millions of others -- fast and as sure as the law of gravity. A small page here and a small page there and pretty soon you're talking about a medium with a pretty big mouth.

Paul of Wizbang:

How many people are in your newsroom Mr. Wasserman? 50, 100, 200???

Today in the blogosphere, a single post garnered well in excess of 300 links. Each person reviewing what others have claimed and offering what they knew. Can you say 300 people in your newsroom looked at your column today Mr. Wasserman? ...30? ...3?

Glenn of Instapundit:

When you're a blogger, you present ideas and arguments, and see how they do. You have a reputation, and it matters, but the reputation is for playing it straight with the facts you present, not necessarily the conclusions you reach. And a big part of the reputation's component involves being willing to admit you're wrong when you present wrong facts, and to make a quick and prominent correction.

As long as they promise not to hijack any blogs, the above-linked people are cordially invited to display either the Jerky Award image or the Little Right Wing Circle Jerk logo, or both.

[Credit: Jerky Award and LRWCJ logos created by Pam of Pamibe, the queen of graphic design - she's the one to see for all your blog-related image needs]

Posted by: Harvey at 10:06 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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