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With regards to Sean Peck's question, I don't think the matter of better
two-way communication will solve the problem of structural blindspots in
the news media.

One theory I endorse is that when a story idea is presented to you
that's simply hard to grasp for what ever reason, it will tend to be
discounted.

My understanding of Watergate is that in the initial stages, most of 
the establishment press in Washington considered it to be a non-story.
One quote I saw had Katherine Graham telling Ben Bradlee, "If this is
such a hell of a story, where is everybody else?" (that may not be a
perfect quote, but you get the gist).

In terms of new media, because it's so easy for anyone to put up a Web
site alleging some type of conspiracy or coverup, the challenge for
journalists is to be smart about separating the wheat from the chaff.

I don't have any bright ideas about how to do that, except one
investigative reporter once told me he gave himself two to three days of
digging before deciding whether to go full bore on a topic.

Please take this to be joking in tone, but maybe newsrooms need a new
position: online conspiracy theory triage specialist.

Bill Doskoch
Saskatoon, SK, Canada


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Subject: Buyer's Alert: Is Bigger Better? From: Bill Doskoch  Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1998 22:16:24 -0400 (EDT)
How the Web Was Won
Subject: Buyer's Alert: Is Bigger Better?
From: Bill Doskoch 
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1998 22:16:24 -0400 (EDT)

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