Citizen Journalism

The latest challenge to mandarin journalism, that us mere citizens should accept without question the delivered wisdom of our betters who wear the robes of – for example – the Associated Press, concerns the unfolding story of where’s Waldo, er, Jamil Hussein, not to mention the purported bodies, “witnesses,” mosque damage, etc. that the AP claims – repeatedly – vouch for its reporting that six Sunnis were immolated by Shiites.

No less an authority on journalism than Eason Jordan, formerly the CNN bureau chief in Baghdad who admitted to slanting its reporting to accommodate Saddam Hussein, and then accused the U.S. military of targeting journalists, has started a new website to aggregate news about Iraq. And, at its debut, Jordan has already stepped into the midst of the battle.

I haven’t investigated all of Jordan’s site for worthiness, but what immediately struck me is that there’s no Topic for “Journalism,” one of the major fronts of the war. Not a confidence builder in the completeness of the site. I wrote to the site, inquiring about this lack of coverage, and will report back if I receive an answer.

Nonetheless, Jordan has offered his site’s resources and Michelle Malkin accepted an invite to join in a trip to Iraq to search for Jamil Hussein. The richness of the commentary is instructive, fascinating, as we watch the unfolding of “the rest of the story” that the AP just wants us to ignore on its say-so, without evidence and despite glaring holes. I strongly suggest you read Malkin’s post, and follow its links, to get up to date.

Gateway Pundit suggests additional AP “sources” to look for in Iraq. Jules Crittenden and CaptainsQuarters guide us to the background of Eason Jordan, and the one-eyed view of the editor of journalism’s leading daily Editor & Publisher. Confederate Yankee offers the AP the latest in technology. (UPDATE: Reuters' head hears, and introduces new photo technology. Jeff Jarvis sees need for transparency. Is AP listening?)

You haven't read much, if anything, about this in your local mandarin newspaper.........yet. The question is, how much longer will you be restricted to Column B (or, should that be column BS).

UPDATE:
E&P editor Greg Mitchell might have looked at the back issues of E&P, before forgetting about Eason Jordan’s sorry record. It’s not available online, but here’s what Thomas Lipscomb wrote on March 14, 2005 in E&P: (here it is republished in Oregon Magazine)

…In that case, the issue was simple enough. Did or didn't Eason Jordan state, at the off-the-record World Economic Forum Conference in Davos, Switzerland, on January 27, something remotely like the charge that U.S. troops had targeted journalists in Iraq and killed a dozen of them or so? It didn’t matter what the opinions of Barney Frank, Christopher Dodd, or the blogger attendee who spilled the beans, Rony Abovitz, thought. It doesn’t even matter what Jordan said about what he said. And it doesn't matter if he apologized for it or not. The World Economic Forum had videotaped the “off the record” meeting. All CNN and Jordan had to do was to ask the tape be released. …

Readership and audiences of the mainstream media are dropping like a stone, but the reporting by the mainstream media on Rathergate and Easongate give little sign that anyone understands why. CJR Daily managing editor Steve Lovelady gave a pretty accurate consensus of the mainstream media's view of what the real problem was: the bloggers did it! Rather and Jordan went down, he said, because: "The salivating morons who make up the lynch mob prevail."

If it takes “salivating morons” to get major news organizations to clean up their acts and remember Journalism 101, may they slobber on -- before the American people stop paying any attention to big media at all. In the end, as The Washington Post’s Howard Kurtz points out, Jordan only resigned “following a relentless campaign by online critics but scant coverage in the mainstream press” Those of us in mainstream media had better ask why we didn’t do a better job ourselves.