Jim Galloway has been with the AJC for more than 20 years and for someone who was born before MTV and CNN, he appears to have successfully made the jump from mere journalist to blogger. Jim and I cover the spectrum from the quality of investigative reporting to the difference between blogs which focus on providing facts and those that sustain themselves primarily on opinion.
As print news struggles to figure out how to make money online, Jim admits that he is one of the fortunate people actually earning a living in the blogosphere. As we all know, for many it is a hobby, a way to think, hope, believe we have input and effect outcome. The codes of conduct are rarely defined and Jim suggests the marketplace generally ferrets out the worthy from the…others.
Jim knows that blogs have an effect, how significant it is varies from issue to issue. He recalls an occasion when he posted something online questioning the purpose of a bill and by the time he walked over to the Capitol, a legislator had read his post and was ready to discuss it with him.
As someone new to the blogoshpere, I get excited at the potential ordinary citizens have in disbursing necessary information and affecting real issues and decisions, particularly political ones. The difficulty is there is so much out there to read, consider, discard or believe.
Without detracting from the importance of blogs in disseminating information and providing an abundance of opinions, I wonder to what extent blogs change peoples’ opinions rather than just reinforcing their previously held perceptions. Do we tend to look at blogs that we expect to tell us what we want to hear and thereby reinforce our opinions or do we really want to change our opinion if confronted with the right facts? I know there are some network news shows I will not watch because I cannot yell loud enough for the host to hear how stupid I think he/she is. I also have tried on a few (very few) occasions to comment in response to a post in a manner which I hope provokes further discussion and comment. I have rarely gotten much response. Generally, either ignored or a go to hell you moron. I guess one of us should just change channels!
There may be dozens of blogs out there (I am not talking about chat rooms, places where I have not yet dared to venture) that effectively discuss issues, and I just don’t know about them. Are there any? That may depend on the definition of “effectively discuss.”
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