Allowing blogs on media outlets irresponsible?

Fishking said:

Depends on what you call new. Internet news is where this type of thing really took off and it hasn't actually be around that long.

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True, but I was thinking back before internet.

Fishking said:

So we have a current thread running that is about a WaPo blog that provided false reporting (possibly lies) on a fund raising effort for a school by raffling an AR-15. One of the responses, and we see this a lot, was "It's in the blog section."

This happens fairly often. I think that's the thinnest of excuses for media outlets to run some pretty horrible stuff off of their blog platforms and act as if it really is much different. We all know they support it and use their platform as media to give more voice to things they wouldn't responsibly do otherwise.

This doesn't really fly as a legitimate excuse for me. They are either a media business, or they are not. Blogs can stick with places like Daily Kos, HuffPo, Breitbart, or whatever. None of the media sites that try to pass themselves off as having any kind of integrity should run it. They can still have their official opinion news programs and such but the garbage blogs need to go away.

Thoughts?

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Well, if its a blog then it's probably opinion, not news.

Most newspapers separate their Editorial coloumn, which is the opinion of the newspaper...from the Opinion section which is the opinions of the readers and other people...from the News section which is neutral. Also...the Opinion section and the News section each has their own editors..which means they are two separate entities

But I have seen the NYT put an editorial from the editor on the front page next to the news and that can get confusing. But the way you know it's an editorial is it's usually never has a named author...and they only use the word "we" and never "I" because it's the view of all the newspaper editors...not an individual.

What is the difference between Op-Ed columns and Editorials?

The name “Op-Ed” is derived from “opposite the editorial page.” The Op-Ed pages feature opinion pieces written by outside contributors and The Times’s own team of columnists: David Brooks, Maureen Dowd, Thomas L. Friedman, Bob Herbert, Nicholas D. Kristof, Paul Krugman, Frank Rich and John Tierney.

Editorials are written by individual New York Times editorial board members in consultation with their colleagues and editors and reflect the opinions of the diverse, 16-member Times editorial board. The editorial page editor answers directly to The Times’s publisher. - NYT

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But sometimes a news journalist or reporter will cross the line from just reporting the factual news into giving their own opinion such as what happened here in 2007 by CNBC business reporter, Rick Santelli ...which some say was the spark that started the tea party....

The line between News and Opinion | Stony Brook Center for News Literacy

He probably should've been fired for that.

But at the end of the day...it's still the readers responsibility to know and understand the difference between an opinion column and the factual news. But it never ceases to amaze me how many people don't because it's something that should or should've been taught in grade school.