Why journalists become journalists

Tigerhawk: Ace is more than a little good on the motivations of journalists and their unreconstructed rage that bloggers are taking all the fun out of leading us around by the nose. Appetizer:

All of these arguments about the need for reporters to report facts are dishonest. No one challenges this notion. No individual blogger could conceivably devote enough hours of his spare time (or his blogging time, if he does this full-time) to develop, confirm, and write a true bit of first-hand journalism once a week or so. And the MSM knows that. They know their job on that score is secure -- simply because no one but a salaried reporter could put in forty hours a week working on a single story. (Especially because 99% of stories are not terribly important or remarkable, but still need to be reported -- but obviously no blogger could write up the Kalamazoo Crime Blotter three times a week and expect to be read by more than three thousand people as an absolute ceiling.)What they are worried about is the decline in their influence as to matters not directly related to data-collection and not even remotely related to reportage. They're worried that they're losing their ability to shape (and mislead) public opinion in ways they find best for the public good. These people did not get into journalism, after all, to report on 3M's quarterly earnings advisory. They got into journalism to change things.And they're desperately scrabbling to hold on tight to that bit of undeserved, undue influence by leveraging their entirely-unrelated qualifications to collect and disseminate raw information into a role they actually desire and feel they are worthy of-- a certified, credentialed priesthood of general wisdom, weighing in expertly on matters of politics, scientific and technological ethical dilemmas, foreign policy and of course military strategy, etc.Read the whole thing.

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Reporters Without Border: The situation of journalists in the Kurdish part of Iran has become even worse

Media rights watchdog blasts Iran arrests

London, Mar. 14 – A prominent international media rights watchdog on Wednesday called on the Iranian government to release four journalists who were arrested in Iran’s north-western Kurdish region.

“The situation of journalists in the Kurdish part of Iran has become even worse”, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said in a statement.

“With increasing frequency, they are being arrested arbitrarily and held incommunicado without the authorities feeling it necessary to inform their families or provide them with a lawyer. We call for their immediate release as no evidence of any guilt has been produced”, the press freedom organisation said.

Kia Jahani, a contributor to the Kurdish-language television station Kurdistan TV, was arrested on February 24 in Marivan, according to the watchdog. Aso Salah, who works for the weekly Didgagh, was arrested on March 8 by intelligence officials in Sanandaj, the capital of Iran’s Kurdistan Province, while covering an authorised demonstration marking International Women’s Day.

Adnan Hassanpour and Kaveh Javanmard, who were arrested earlier, are still being held without being allowed visits.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran continues to be the Middle East’s biggest prison for journalists, with a total of seven detained”, RSF said.

Iranian Kurds have suffered at the hands of the Islamic Republic of Terrorists more than any other group since their occupation of Iran in 1979. The brutality aganist Iranian kurds is on the rise once again as the regime smells the foul odor of death and decay coming from its black hole of totalitarinism.

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