Bloggers Morphing into Investigative Journalists

"They" said that Establishment media, be it "60 Minutes" or "THE NEW YORK TIMES," would always be needed.  That's because only they had the resources to fund investigative reporting.  "They" were wrong. Blogger Kathleen Seidel proved that.

In fact, Seidel was so successful in her investigative efforts into the autism vaccine controversy that she rattled some important cages.  One was that of vaccine-plaintiff attorney Clifford Shoemaker.  He pulled one of those Goliah dirty tricks on this David of a blogger by issuing a subpoena for all kinds of documents. 

Seidel was equally successful in attracting support.  Among her key champions was the influential Walter Olson.  Employed at think tank Manhattan Institute, which itself has plenty of clout, Olson also operates the two leading legal blogs Overlawyered.com and Pointoflaw.com.  It was his electronic trumpet blast which set off a surge of push-back against Shoemaker.  And Olson is still at it.

Perhaps it's our conversational tone.  People with a beef, a mission, a clue to a puzzle - they come to us bloggers.  They provide insider information, interpretation of that information and even documents.  By default more and more of us in the blogosphere are being drawn into investigative reporting. Now I understand why traditional journalists are willing to risk their lives and earn peanuts to chase after a story.  The story, I'm finding, along with the nobility of the cause, just takes hold of me.

I can't think of one remaining rationale for the continued existence of Establishment media.  We Digitals can do it all.