Attention All (Political) Bloggers, We've Been Wielded

Many a time in this blog I have covered the slow, but credible creep of blogging from a hobby to a viable news source. For most of us on the "inside" it's incredible encouraging to see the thing we participate in grow and earn respect.

One point of view that's less talked about, however, is the negative impact that also comes with it. Since bloggers are not subjected to the same, though questionable, metrics that traditional journalism uses, we're free to say almost anything. This brings with it a can of issues in terms of knowing who to trust and who to ignore. It's easy for unassuming readers to get caught in "blog vertigo" where the truth is verified only by the number of people linking to it.

Many have been stung before, but here's an interesting little snipe from Bill Burkett, apparent source of the Rather memos:

Burkett also accused the White House of using the blog community to launch a "kill the messenger campaign" against him after the documents were made public.

"The coordinated attacks against the documents, then against me, which CBS did nothing to deflect or defend, and then against Dan Rather and CBS producer Mary Mapes have not been against the validity of the documents, but rather as an attack against anything being considered at all," he said.

Burkett's wife, Nicki, described the couple as "shaken" by the uproar.

"Our name has been destroyed and cannot be reclaimed," she said in the e-mailed response. "We are presumed guilty, not only for poor judgment of involving ourselves with CBS, but now considered to be forgers and liars."

Source: cnn.com, "Burkett insists 'jury still out' memos CBS aired"

It's clear that with this new "power", if you will, there's a great responsibility shared by us all. We must be clear on how we get our information, who we get it from, and how we use it. It boils down to reputation and relevance -- two cornerstones of our new media.

In a somewhat related note, on Monday, my company will be launching a new site that tackles these issues. I hope you'll all take the opportunity to check it out, give some feedback, and break it.