The blogosphere is continually lectured by MSM elites that we are unreliable and inferior because we lack the infrastructure of editors and supposed fact—checkers to vet what we publish and ensure accuracy. All that we have instead is a connection to our audience, who cheerfully inform us of any mistakes, and the ability to go back and correct our posts, with a hat tip to the well—informed reader, when he or she is willing to be identified.

Everyone, of course, makes mistakes from time to time. But the vaunted talents of the editors and fact—checkers in the MSM appear to be a bit overstated. The latest example is the Chicago Tribune which has twice in recent days printed a picture of the wrong men identifying themаas mob bosses.

In the old days, there would have been experienced crime reporters on hand in the newsroom, who would have known exactly what the capos looked like, and who, in fact, knew what they sounded like and maybe how firm their handshakes were. Today, graduates of J—schools instead know that Bush is a moron and Republicans are evil.

The MSM has gotten itself in yet another trap. Their self—selected coterie of elitist journalists live in a rarified segment of society, and are out of touch with the rest of us in a way that only the disdainful can be: their sense of self—worth depends on being different and better. By claiming superior accuracy based on their professionalаstatus and bureaucratic structureаthey have set themselves up to meet an impossible standard of perfection.

Moreover, their old technology prevents them from making real—time corrections, while their professional distance from their audience makes it painful to admit that the ordinary folks know more than they do. Each instance of mistakes makes their claims of superiority more and more laughable.

There is no solution to the MSM's problems. The blogosphere is riding the wave of "collective intelligence" or "the wisdom of the many." It is extremely "fault tolerant" because of the self—correcting mechanism of feedback inherent in the interactive structure on which it is built.

Hierarchy and bureaucracy were extremely powerful tools when they were invented. But interactive networking is a new phenomenon on a mass scale, and it is proving superior for many (but not all) applications. The generation, collection, analysis, and dissemination of information is pretty clearly an area in which networking has unstoppable advantages.

Thomas Lifsonаа 4 29 05