It is a lesson that as a blogger, every blogger must inherently worry about. What you report affects people's lives, even as you are typing from the sanctity of your personal home and looking up information on the internet. This is the lesson we bloggers must take to heart.
On December 20, 2006 a conservative blogger Michelle Malkin reported that a source used by the Associated Press in Iraq, a Jamil Hussein did not exist.
This was used to show that the AP was making up false anti-war stories.
Well yesterday the AP reports:
The upside about blogging is that it keeps the mainstream media on their toes and ensures better reporting. The downside is the you have untrained amateurs or in this case a political pundit with power and influence and a political shtick carelessly or maliciously harms another person.
As a blogger I am a strong supporter of the medium. I think that locally and nationally we need voices who can call it as it is. I have in a very short time, I believe made an impact in the community. I note that County Supervisor Helen Thomson read from this blog. That the Woodland Daily Democrat used a blog entry on their editorial page. That the Senior Citizen's Commission will have an agenda item this Thursday related to this blog. So there is a tremendous amount of interest and impact already for this new blog. This is a note of caution, with power and influence comes responsibility. But this is a note of caution to all of us to remember that what we say does impact lives.
---Doug Paul Davis reporting
On December 20, 2006 a conservative blogger Michelle Malkin reported that a source used by the Associated Press in Iraq, a Jamil Hussein did not exist.
This was used to show that the AP was making up false anti-war stories.
Well yesterday the AP reports:
Iraq's Interior Ministry acknowledged today "that an Iraqi police officer whose existence had been denied by the Iraqis and the U.S. military is in fact an active member of the force, and said he now faces arrest for speaking to the media..."As these things go this ranks up there as an absolute disaster. You have an irresponsible blogger, making irresponsible claims that end up getting someone fired.
The upside about blogging is that it keeps the mainstream media on their toes and ensures better reporting. The downside is the you have untrained amateurs or in this case a political pundit with power and influence and a political shtick carelessly or maliciously harms another person.
As a blogger I am a strong supporter of the medium. I think that locally and nationally we need voices who can call it as it is. I have in a very short time, I believe made an impact in the community. I note that County Supervisor Helen Thomson read from this blog. That the Woodland Daily Democrat used a blog entry on their editorial page. That the Senior Citizen's Commission will have an agenda item this Thursday related to this blog. So there is a tremendous amount of interest and impact already for this new blog. This is a note of caution, with power and influence comes responsibility. But this is a note of caution to all of us to remember that what we say does impact lives.
---Doug Paul Davis reporting
