Isn't the Pollack-O'H embedding a matter for the public editor of the Times?

My question is where has the 'watchdog press' been on this issue; it is certainly part of the cost of our wars.

-- bucky1

They have been observing the laws of the "free market" you prize so much by reporting and commenting as their corporate owners and advertisers want them to.

Glenn Greenwald shows us almost everyday why he is such a terrific reporter. Here he tells us that Mike Allen with Politico in an interview with Hugh Hewitt that O'Hanlon and Pollack of(the surge is working and things are going swimmingly, that the military organized the pairs tour and they even got a chance to interview General Patraeus to boot. Wow, thats independence for you. --ConnieL

I've seen a few people call Glenn a reporter, or journalist. This is wrong. Reporters or journalists dig up information that hasn't been reported before. Glenn does not do this. While he may come up with interesting slants on the already known, that is the extent of of his originality.

Reporters and journalists also need to have relationships with those that can provide new information. That's why it's called "news". It is idiocy to insist that people who rely on the flow of information be adversarial with their sources. The result will be no information at all. Then Glenn would have nothing to talk about.

Speaking of "adversarial", I notice that Democrats seem to be immune to said adversarial inquiry. As always IOKIYAD.

shooter would rather be told lies than nothing at all, as long as the lies fit in with his preconceived notions. What a courageous stance.

Reporters and journalists also need to have relationships with those that can provide new information. That's why it's called "news".--shooter242

No, news is and acronym for North, East, West, South.

Speaking of "adversarial", I notice that Democrats seem to be immune to said adversarial inquiry. As always IOKIYAD.

And how often have you did you call for the Republicans to aggressively investigate the legally dubious acts its caucus routinely engaged in for the last sixteen years?

After looking into Snopes, which usually seems to nail things down well, it seems the North, East, West, South supposed acronym of the word 'news' is a long time accepted, but incorrect, derivation of the word. I stand corrected.

I'm disappointed I couldn't catch more of Glenn's talk on the YearlyKos panel.

I am awestruck by the sheer majesty being shown on the Senate floor right now, regarding these last minute FISA changes. The majesty of a great ship, its back broken, sinking.

The sheer majesty being shown by senators of both parties to sell our 4th amendment rights down the damn river. The majesty of supreme cowardice. The majesty of

ah crap. I'm too bummed to type any more.

for M$Media v Bloggers panel...

http://ustream.tv/channel/yearlykos-convention-2007

If that doesn't make it, try one of the other clips on this page. I'm listening to an introduction now...

to Henry Waxman!

I'm listening to an introduction now...

-- Karen M

Did it cut out barely into Glenn's turn to speak, Karen? That's what happened on that link when I tried it earlier today.

I guess I found the same clip that everyone has already seen...

Yep, that's what happened, and he was sounding really good, too. Hopefully, a more complete clip will turn up eventually...

shooter242:

I've seen a few people call Glenn a reporter, or journalist. This is wrong. Reporters or journalists dig up information that hasn't been reported before. Glenn does not do this. While he may come up with interesting slants on the already known, that is the extent of of his originality.

First off, "reporter" and "journalist" are not synonymous. I was a freelance journalist (part-time, then full-time) for about 7 years, but almost never as a reporter. I wrote op-eds and book reviews. Generally speaking, "journalist" encompasses at least seven different major functions: reporting, criticism, commentary, interviewing, investigation, research and analysis. The degree of overlap or interpenetration between these functions can vary quite widely, but it's entirely possible to work almost exclusively within the confines of any of one of them, and still be a journalist, no questions asked. One can be an investigator, for example, but always work as part of a team in which others do the actual writing, aka "reporting."

While Glenn does relatively little original beat-style reporting, (1) he does a good deal of everything else on the list, except interviewing, which he does occassionally, and (2) his style of blogging is quite reportorial--he doesn't just link to something, he describes it, sets it in context, provides quotes verbatim, etc.

When he writes about court decisions, this blogging style results quite naturally in what would normally be regarded as beat-style reporting. Hence, it seems rather odd to object that he is "not reporting" when his subject matter is something in the media, as opposed to a court decision.

Second, there is absolutely no relationship between reporting events first-hand and originality. None.

Reporters and journalists also need to have relationships with those that can provide new information. That's why it's called "news". It is idiocy to insist that people who rely on the flow of information be adversarial with their sources. The result will be no information at all.

Typical Shooterism. A muddle of half-truths not really worth picking apart. Suffice it to say that (1) news often comes directly from people who make news, people who do something noteworthy, (2) or through public agencies that have a duty to inform the public, (3) or from people seeking publicity, who need journalists more than the other way around. No buddy-buddy relationship is necessary in any of these situations.

Furthermore, Shooter is playing games with the word "adversarial," since the relationship of a reporter to a source must nearly always be adversarial in one sense--you must test the veracity and coherence of what is told you, and press people to tell you more than they originally intend--that need not mean being unpleasant. Lawyers are famous for being quite adversarial with one another in court, and yet being quite friendly off the job. A similar distinction may be harder to maintain with journalists and sources, without the formal, ritually-public stage of the courtroom, but it is hardly unimaginable.

Except, of course, for Shooter. Heh.