I’ve read some of the media reports on your recent comments about media reporting during the campaign. I was especially interested in your comment that read:

“When did we start accepting as hard news sources bloggers, anonymous bloggers especially? It’s a sad state of affairs in the world of the media today, mainstream media especially, that they’re going to rely on bloggers, anonymous bloggers, for their hard news information.”

We started accepting bloggers as news sources when we began trusting people more than we trust organizations. People trust other people. And bloggers are people too. I can understand some skepticism about “annoynymous bloggers” but that is the beauty of dialogue online. Everyone gets to have an opinion and it is up to the reader to do additional research if necessary to determine what they believe. In the case of the mainstream media, it is in their best interest to use any possible source to get an idea for a story and up to them to follow up appropriately and ensure their reporting is correct.

Interestingly, we used to hear questions like this from clients, but tend not to anymore. I’ve been so impressed with clients’ understanding of the need to engage in social media. They may not know how they’ll do it yet, and some are still struggling with the questions around who in their organization should lead the effort, but very few question the value or need of participating. And that is a breath of fresh air.

Anyway, the fact that anyone could question the impact of online reporting on mainstream media and consumer opinion in today’s digital environment surprises me. But as long as it isn’t a client I’m ok.