Newspaperman slams BVD-clad amateur journalists

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To "inane," "rambling," and "rarely updated" may be added unethical, dishonest, unreliable, bigoted, and censorial.

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A newspaperman wrote,

And when you look at the internet business, what’s dangerous about it is that people who are clearly unqualified get to disseminate their piece to the masses. I respect the journalism industry, and the fact of the matter is ...someone with no training should not be allowed to have any kind of format whatsoever to disseminate to the masses to the level which they can. They are not trained. Not experts. More important are the level of ethics and integrity that comes along with the quote-unqoute profession hasn’t been firmly established and entrenched in the minds of those who’ve been given that license. (emphasis added)

"Therefore, there’s a total disregard, a level of wrecklessness (sic) that ends up being a domino effect. And the people who suffer are the common viewers out there and, more importantly, those in the industry who haven’t been fortunate to get a radio or television deal and only rely on the written word. And now they’ve been sabotaged. Not because of me. Or like me. But because of the industry or the world has allowed the average joe to resemble a professional without any credentials whatsoever.

Good examples of these BVD-clad amateur journalists who pretend to resemble professional journalists are Fatheaded Ed Brayton (Dispatches from the Culture Wars), Sleazy PZ Myers (Pharyngula), and Wesley "Ding" Elsberry (Austringer). All three also blog on Panda's Thumb.

One of blogs' few potential advantages is that readers' comments can help make them "self-correcting." But this potential advantage doesn't work when bloggers arbitrarily censor comments.

Fortunately, blogs are not the only sources of news on the Internet -- professional news organizations also publish news on the Internet.

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