Thursday, January 19, 2006
What Little People Can Do
This story caught my attention for several reasons. The feat was the product of one person working alone in a relatively small newspaper chain in Illinois. The paper gained national attention by placing all of its data on a web site for everyone to review. There are huge media in Illinois, notably the Chicago Tribune, but the story didn't come from big media.
Expect more stories from improbable places. The Smoking Gun and bloggers, of course, have shown their power, but they are only the beginning. The big problem is time. One has to be patient to pursue elusive facts and with traditional media shrinking, there is less time for established media to dig. Hence, they are yielding subjects like this to those willing to take on the burden. The task is more than citizen journalism. It requires the persistent skill of a good researcher who knows how to wend through a system to get a result. Not many people know how to do that.
The story is a reminder to PR practitioners to look everywhere when monitoring.
Expect more stories from improbable places. The Smoking Gun and bloggers, of course, have shown their power, but they are only the beginning. The big problem is time. One has to be patient to pursue elusive facts and with traditional media shrinking, there is less time for established media to dig. Hence, they are yielding subjects like this to those willing to take on the burden. The task is more than citizen journalism. It requires the persistent skill of a good researcher who knows how to wend through a system to get a result. Not many people know how to do that.
The story is a reminder to PR practitioners to look everywhere when monitoring.
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