From My Bottom Step

James Shelley has an interesting post on his blog that’s titled “Collective Reporting.” It was inspired by the recent UWO incident which has sparked some controversy about possible police abuse of force and the reliability of citizen journalism.

I agree with James that there have always been “deeply rooted biases” even in the mainstream media. What surprises me is that the accuracy of news reporting is being called into question as much as it has since the Internet began to empower us all.

It has always been the responsibility of the news consumer to read/view what’s presented with a critical (skeptical?) mind. To seek out different sources of stories and compare them, and to ask questions.

Nobody, least of all this citizen journalist, should try to pretend that modern technology which (as James says) allows us to become the newscasters, will guarantee that the “news” we get will be free from bias or any more accurate than what we have previously been limited to.

What the Internet and the accompanying modern technology does provide, is a wonderfully expanded source of information from which to choose .

As Dan Brown might say, “let a thousand flowers bloom.”