netchicken1 - 8:34 pm on Mar 3, 2007 (gmt 0)

Of course they are parasitic, just as every water cooler conversation is. Just as every study group, as every secondary source magazine article, Blogs are just one more outlet for news commentary.

Maybe the quality of news will improve when the reporters find themselves under much more public and critical analysis. No longer can they get away with spoonfed answers but are really forced to serve the needs of the discerning public.

What I think is happening is that people are becoming much more aware of shoddy cheap journalism and bias. Take the revelations in Littlegreenfootballs and similar over doctored images from the media by the major news outlets.

Ten years ago we would have just accepted as truth the images and text of the reporters without realising that they are pushing their own agendas and biases.

People are talking, the truth is coming out, the news is for the first time being analysed and stripped to the component pieces and publicised instead of taken verbatam.

Welcome to the new world.