Comments on: MSNBC mistakes a 'fake Al Sharpton' blog for the real thing

In an article about African American leaders' reactions to the Michael Vick dogfighting scandal, an MSNBC reporter quotes a satirical blog by mistake.

[roger.d.miller]

A good thing

It's always good to have one or more idiots within the news media. The media is, after all, supposed to be representative of the public at large.

[ghostofitpast]

A classic argument

This is known as the "Roman Hruska" argument, named for the Nebraska Senator who defended Nixon's nomination of Harold Carswell for the Supreme Court in spite of the latter's mediocre record as a jurist; I believe the way Hruska put is was, "We need someone in the Supreme Court to represent all the mediocre Americans!"

[ghostofitpast]

Citizen Journalist Meets Citizen Kane

The timing could not be better, since Scott Gant was on Book TV last night talking about his book, WE'RE ALL JOURNALISTS NOW: THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE PRESS AND RESHAPING OF THE LAW IN THE INTERNET AGE. What I had not realized was that Gant is a lawyer with no direct experience in journalism. This may be one reason why, in the course of the hour he spent talking about his book, the word "editor" was never used. It strikes me that the really bad news about this item is that MSNBC seems to be embracing the "citizen journalism" standard of editing (which is to say none at all). At the very least, it would not surprise me if more editing goes into turning out good parodies over at News Groper than goes into preparing material for broadcast or "Web release" over at MSNBC.

[8ball629]

Journalists and Reporters...

They get dumber by the day.

[ajkwl02]

saline pools are greener

pools using salt water are easier to maintain and clean than pools using chemicals. many people swim in them