Comforting the afflicted, and afflicting the comfortable, is the purpose of journalism.

[WilliamPitt]

If "mainstream" journalists were pulling their freight, this whole "who's a journalist" conversation would be moot.

Citizen journalists are taking up the slack.

Don't argue against them. You steal from yourself when you do.

[gopiscrap]

1. I thought that was the purpose of Christianity.

[truebluegreen]

2. Others agree BUT:

In the early 1900’s, humorist Finley Peter Dunne said that “The newspaper does everything for us. It runs the police force and the banks, commands the militia, controls the legislature, baptizes the young, marries the foolish, comforts the afflicted and afflicts the comfortable, buries the dead, and roasts them afterward.” Many of us have heard that expression “comforts the afflicted and afflicts the comfortable” and wondered where it came from. Some assume that it came from scripture, and might be disappointed to discover that it came from the lips of 1900’s era comedian!
Although the words “comforting the afflicted” and “afflicting the comfortable” are not found in scripture....

[Bernardo de La Paz]

3. Informing the citizenry usually means afflicting the comfortable 1%.

[starroute]

4. How about we reframe "mainstream" as corporate

I've been concluding that's what this is really about -- corporate journalism vs. independent journalism. It's very closely related to the Net Neutrality debate. The corporations feel threatened, they desperately want to keep control, and that means freezing out independent voices. Everything else is just a pretext.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

5. Politicians can control corporate media much more easily by controlling access to interviews. nt

[FarCenter]

6. The purpose of journalism is to collect eyeballs to sell to advertizers.