Who is Less Trustworthy - Politicians or Bloggers?
In a time when people are consciously participating and relying more and more on the internet, in partiular blogs, as their one-stop source for political news, opinions, and goings-on, who are we putting our trust in? While there's no doubt that the general population takes the words that come out of a politician's mouth with a grain of salt, what about the pundits of Web 2.0?
Bloggers most typically obtain their 'facts' from mainstream media sources like newspapers (tangible or online), TV, and the net. They then offer up their own personal take on a given politician or issue, applying whatever biases or party-alignments they may have. And whether they are doing this conciously or unconciously (and whether you believe they may be biased or not), it still is just a single person sitting at a keyboard, as far removed from the inner-workings of American politics as the everyman.
Political bloggers may be absent a political agenda, but personal biases and unique life situations are definitely traits they share - just like all of us. Looking to them as an authoritative source of information thus may not be the best thing to do before making a decision on who you will vote for in the coming mid-terms, or further down the road in '08. The internet has given everyone a voice, and as we turn our eyes away from the negative television commercials to the free-wheeling op-ed postings of our favorite blogs, remember that the new media wave of the future probably isn't coming equipped with a heightened level of credibility.
Time will pass, and politicians and their consultants will become more aware of the power of the net to pursuade people. Their .com efforts will begin to increasingly crowd out the large search engine hugfest between political blogs/UGC and Google and Yahoo, and I'm not saying it's a bad thing. You may just end up having to dig a little further to find your favorite source of bullshit, cause Mr. Politician will be feeding you just as fast as Joe Blogger.
In the end, it's still on us to decide who to trust and what to trust. Just remember that while bloggers still have a stranglehold on the political web forum, they did not obtain it through years of service in politics, and thier words are as open for debate as the men and women they critique.
Bloggers most typically obtain their 'facts' from mainstream media sources like newspapers (tangible or online), TV, and the net. They then offer up their own personal take on a given politician or issue, applying whatever biases or party-alignments they may have. And whether they are doing this conciously or unconciously (and whether you believe they may be biased or not), it still is just a single person sitting at a keyboard, as far removed from the inner-workings of American politics as the everyman.
Political bloggers may be absent a political agenda, but personal biases and unique life situations are definitely traits they share - just like all of us. Looking to them as an authoritative source of information thus may not be the best thing to do before making a decision on who you will vote for in the coming mid-terms, or further down the road in '08. The internet has given everyone a voice, and as we turn our eyes away from the negative television commercials to the free-wheeling op-ed postings of our favorite blogs, remember that the new media wave of the future probably isn't coming equipped with a heightened level of credibility.
Time will pass, and politicians and their consultants will become more aware of the power of the net to pursuade people. Their .com efforts will begin to increasingly crowd out the large search engine hugfest between political blogs/UGC and Google and Yahoo, and I'm not saying it's a bad thing. You may just end up having to dig a little further to find your favorite source of bullshit, cause Mr. Politician will be feeding you just as fast as Joe Blogger.
In the end, it's still on us to decide who to trust and what to trust. Just remember that while bloggers still have a stranglehold on the political web forum, they did not obtain it through years of service in politics, and thier words are as open for debate as the men and women they critique.
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