Dave tried to discount the impact bloggers are having on journalism because bloggers have an agenda. They aren't impartial. Dave added Ed agrees with him... which makes me even more convinced I'm right.

I countered with bloggers don't try to appear impartial and the primary reason they do so much research for free is they are trying to prove or defend their point of view. CBS has to do enough research each week to fill an hour of television and the research has to be compelling enough to sell an hour's worth of ads.

Which is worse?

When someone challenges my point of view, I will try to find a flaw in their logic or and check their numbers. If the facts hold up and work against my view, you probably won't hear about it on my blog. If the facts don't hold, I'll be sure to post something about it.

Is this wrong?

Of course not. While I'm not a journalist, the fact checking and research I do still has value.

This was very much the case during the CBS document fiasco. I didn't agree with the point of view of most of the people doing the work to debunk the documents. They were motivated to clear Bush's name. But I agree even less with CBS. They were trying to balance ratings and journalistic integrity. They failed. Even worse, they tried to discount bloggers challenge by discounting the bloggers themselves.

This is happening again with the poll results. Kerry supporters (or Bush haters) are trying to find fault with the results from Ohio and Florida. When the networks were discussing Ohio and the possibility of Kerry requesting a recount, I was screaming at the TV... "There's nothing to recount!"

Once again, the bloggers have been posting information I have yet see on any network. The numbers from Flordia don't add up. More people voted for Bush than voted in several counties. Unusually large numbers of of registered democrats voted for Bush... but only in counties using in electric voting machines. In Gahanna, OH , 4,000 people voted for Bush and nothing else. Exit polls were accurate in non-swing states, but were way off in key states like Ohio and Florida. And More

Once again, the networks are blaming the bloggers for reporting the exit polls. Why aren't the networks looking into what why the exit polls didn't match the returns. Could it be the networks looked at their focus groups ratings for this "investigative report" and decided most Americans wouldn't watch an hour of election conspiracy theory. Low ratings mean low interest from advertisers.