Blogs: More influential every day
The recent Reuters altered photo scandal demonstrated how blogs can fact check the mainstream media. Let’s not forget that one of the things that makes a blog a blog — and gives them their ever-increasing clout — is their interactivity with readers:
Looking closely at the photography, [Mike Thorson, a Janesville, Wisc., artist] saw an odd pattern in the thick, black clouds of smoke rising from the bombed area. He recognized the effect, a bit of Adobe Photoshop magic called cloning.
To clone, you simply click on part of a picture, then paste an exact copy of that part somewhere else on the photo. Thorson recognized the effect because he’d used it. Sometimes he’d worked on catalog photographs of the tools his company distributes. Sometimes, on close inspection, he would find on the photograph a speck of dust, a piece of dirt, a hair or some other imperfection. By cloning, he could replace the imperfection with a clean image.
The photo on the Yahoo site was different, though. It was supposed to be journalism.
“I was shocked,” Thorson said later. “This is supposed to be serious. Reuters is a very well-known and respected wire service.”
Within minutes Thorson went to the political blog Little Green Footballs and sent a comment about his suspicions that the photo had been doctored. He thought of the blog because it had been among those questioning the authenticity of the documents “60 Minutes II” used in a report on President George W. Bush’s record in the Texas Air National Guard.
The very next morning, Aug. 6, Thorson saw his suspicions posted on Little Green Footballs, and the story soon caught fire.
That is value blogs add to the public debate. They empower the blogger — giving ordinary folks the power of the press once held only by those rich enough to afford one — and give voice to the reader as well.
I do not think for one minute that I get all the hits I do because of the sparkly nature of my pose or the profound wisdom I lay on my readers. It’s the comments.
Every once in a while, I wistfully envision a world in which I block every single insulting and rude comment that appears here. I don’t because it’s hypocritical to tear into people in a post and not let others take a shot right back at me.
And besides, sometimes my critics are right, and sometimes they teach me a thing or two.
And quite often a comment or an email leads to a juicy situation that needs some public exposure. My readers have a view of people you aren’t always going to read in the Journal Star and one you certainly aren’t going to get on a Peoria Area Convention and Visitors Bureau brochure.
And this observation applies to all the other wonderful blogs in Peoria. There are a lot of them, and they are affecting the political landscape in Peoria. I predict that the results next year’s at-large city council races will depend on which candidates can best convince Peoria’s blog community (bloggers, commenters and readers) they have the goods for turning Peoria around.
Hat tip: Romenesko.
Billy Dennis is a former reporter and editor at small daily and weekly newspapers in Illinois and Missouri. He comments on media, news and politics. He also owns and operates 
