It is great to see people willing to put money behind investigative journalism. The Huffington Post Investigative Fund, Alternet, and ProPublica have all shown great promise. It has been a fun couple of years watching Alternet stories gain traction through Facebook sharing and via retweets on Twitter until they finally show up in the more traditional news outlets.

While TV news coverage is probably adequate when covering things like ARod’s drug use, or Britney Spears child custody problems, it is extremely ill suited to handling complex issues like the legislature or the economy. It is easy for a TV news cast to tell you how many jobs General Motors has eliminated but its not as easy to educate the viewer about the interplay between GM shareholders, management, lenders, and labor unions that went into the decision to cut jobs.

Journalists, start your skepticism. In covering the proposed $700 billion bailout of Wall Street don’t repeat the failed lapdog practices that so damaged our reputations in the rush to war in Iraq and the adoption of the Patriot Act. Don’t assume that Congress must act instantly, as so many news stories state as if it  Read more »