You Gotta Read The Fine Print

Man, am I a dope. This morning I read a story in the on-line edition of Newsweek that really got my dander up. I just finished writing a hilarious and scathing blog about it. It had to do with politics and one of the candidates for the Presidential nomination. Man it was good, but you'll never read it. Want to know why? Because it was fake that's why. Not my post, that was real, or as real as my rantings can be. No, the Newsweek story was "satire". It wasn't until after I had read the story, digested the content and then burped out my opinion that I saw the word "satire" at the bottom. Man that was close.

I know how you count on this forum for all your accurate, up to date, world event news and comment. Sure there are "legitimate" news outlets, but are they as funny as me, or as willing to admit their mistakes? It's my humanness that makes me accessible. This just goes to show you, don't believe everything you read. Just because a story comes from a trusted source, doesn't make it so. (Unless it's from me, then you know you can take it to the bank. Well only if your bank deals in soft facts and hard opinions.) Thankfully I caught myself before I hit "publish". If not, I could have been in for a long drawn out legal battle. Some bloggers have been sued for what they have posted. That's right, as hard as it is to believe, some bloggers are not as careful about their facts (allegedly) and will write things that may be erroneous (allegedly). These bloggers leave themselves open to libel lawsuits. Since a lot of bloggers are shut-ins without huge incomes (very allegedly) a long, drawn out lawsuit would cause financial hardship, resulting in them having to give up their high speed internet access for dial up service. (again, I could be wrong)

To help stop irresponsible blogging, a group has been formed called the Media Bloggers Association. They are a non-partisan group that is helping fight lawsuits against bloggers. They also are trying to get some bloggers who want to cover major political events credentialed like TV, Print and Radio journalists. They even have a code of ethics. Wow. Part of the code says that bloggers should "use your own name and offer a means for readers to communicate with you." Listen, if I wanted to communicate, I'd have a conversation. I want to rant uninterrupted and not have my opinions questioned. That's why I'm here. That's not true. You know who I am and you can comment on anything I write here. Who knew? I'm an ethical blogger. You better believe it. Later.......? (Brian)