Gimbol's diatribe and screed

An idea waiting to catch fire

Here's the knowns:

1- There are the blogs, some well read, others like this one not so.
2- There is Youtube, which allows bloggers and the like to prove beyond a doubt an event did indeed take place, or a certain thing was in fact stated.

Here's the commonly held beliefs:

1-That there is bias in the media
2-That the media, based on the desire to increase market share, is less concerned with getting it right (the truth) and more concerned with sensationalism.

Here's the idea:

Perhaps some enterprising bloggers capable of such a thing could expend a bit of effort and compile some Youtube video. The point of this exercise not to expose bias, but to pit one major media outlet against another.

I'll provide one example of how this can be beneficial in getting the MSM more interested in truth telling than sooth saying.
Lately there has been a lot of media speculation about the cabinet shuffle with many of the talking heads quoting the ubiquitous "unnamed source" or "senior anonymous staffer". What would be usefull, and wildly entertaining, is if we could see a comparison for example say (for the sake of demonstration) Craig Oliver or Jane Taber detailing how they have the scoop on which ministers are being shuffled and to where. Then after the event in question has occurred run a second video clip of the actual result. Then after posting the evidence on Youtube showing how off their prediction was, bring it to the notice of one of their rivals...oh I don't know...say Mike Duffy. He likes to run contriversial stuff, especially if he thought someone else was going to run it before him....he more than anyone is obsessed with maintaining his persona of being in the know around the Parliamentary Press Gallery. The end result is that certain outspoken memebers of the PPG start losing credibilty among their peers, and those oft quoted unnamed sources start losing their appeal until they agree to have their name published.
Even if this didn't come to pass, the fact that this idea gets out there is enough to keep the media on its toes from now on.

I'll wait and see if this idea gets run with....and if it does I promise I won't take credit for it.

Labels: useful idiots

posted by gimbol @ 3:53 AM