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With the recent death of MIchael Hastings and Glenn Greenwald being all over the news, there's seems to be quite a bit of rumbling over whether real journalism is in jeopardy.

1) Is journalism dying?

2) Who are you're go-to feather ruffling, unafraid to take a shot at either side, true journalists?

Just a continued move to non-centralized, non-behometh journalistic strongholds. People still think that journalism could only exist with large, corporate-like institutions. The world's been changing, and journalism isn't a centralized or formalized field any more. It's a facebook-type world, and everyone is a journalist any more. Time will tell if that's a good thing or not, but yes, old school journalism is just that - old and going away.

The idea these days is that there are so many other options for news thanks to the interweb. In the past we've been limited to what ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, and CNN spat at us via the tube as what the true news was. Now we're seeing more interpretation from less visible outlets like the Guardian, Huffpo, and a host of fringe outlets that may or may not be associated with a lefty or righty editorial staff.

In general, there's now a bit of a check and balance to the old school news outlets - it makes it tougher on the consumer of news because it's a little more work to try to find the least biased view, but Fox and NBC simply can't spew out an unfiltered editorial bias as news anymore without someone calling them to the mat.

I just come here for the news.

If Julian Assange and Michael Hastings are the breed of journalists that are supposedly going extinct then frankly we aren't losing very much. Assange didn't uncover any smoking guns and only embarrassed some people and endangered others. Michael Hasting's biggest accomplishment was getting a general fired for criticizing his boss in what was assumed to be and off-the-record statement. If anyone has an example of real useful whistle blowing they have done then I'll listen but it seems to me that those two are just jackasses trying to make names for themselves.

Also, with today's partisan politics and the internet I think if there were a real scandal on the scale of Watergate journalists, bloggers, and political operatives would be on it like a pack of sharks on a wounded whale.

kalm wrote:With the recent death of MIchael Hastings and Glenn Greenwald being all over the news, there's seems to be quite a bit of rumbling over whether real journalism is in jeopardy.

1) Is journalism dying?

2) Who are you're go-to feather ruffling, unafraid to take a shot at either side, true journalists?

1. "Real journalism" in the Orwellian sense is good investigative reporting. In Homage to Catalonia, Orwell exemplified that by pointing out the shortcomings of the far Spanish left as well as the Franco right. It's not dying so much as atomized in the era of the Internet. Some is good, but most is dreck. Just like the MSM.
2. Hard to say, because I don't read too many blogs. In terms of "opinion columnists," I always thought the late Bill Raspberry was a straight shooter who leaned left. None of the current crop come close, although a few have their moments.

Matt Taibbi

Mother Jones.