craigslist - the new drudge report?

[breakingnews]

A story is running shortly about an interview with Craig Newmark, the founder of craigslist.org, in which he spells out (in moderate detail - expanding on remarks made last month ahead of the Newspaper industry conference) plans to steer the site toward a focus on community journalism.

By this he basically means a semi-organized group of writers and bloggers to investigate scandals and cover politics while sidestepping the primary hindrance professional reporters face, which is being forced to accept what politicians and executives say as "fact," even if those words are blatant lies. He wants to turn up the heat on industry-defined "objectivity."

This really is nothing new. Bloggers have been doing this for a while and have had a few bright spots as the free web becomes more and more part of mainstream media. But now Newmark wants to see a network of guerrilla reporters and editors challenge professional journalists in a formalized manner.

I don't know what to make of this. It's fine and dandy, and I don't at all feel that my profession is being threatened. Do you folks out there think this is feasible? Why do we pay a quarter for the newspaper or subscribe to stacks of magazines? Who do you trust for your news these days?

There's obviously plenty to be said about being "honest" and telling things "as they are," which seems to be Newmark's grand objective. But professional or not, there is ALWAYS bias is everything that is written about the news. It depends who is reading the copy and what he/she personally thinks. Further, trusting your report to a band of gypsies with notepads and tape recorders might lead to devastating consequences - only there's no liability involved, and thus less accountability. That's setting a stage for some reckless reporting, I think.

I'll post the link when the story hits the web.