Is this the beginning of the end for "mainstream news reporting"?

It is starting to feel that way for me. I find myself getting more and more of my news from the blogsphere. For me the big time media outlets like the BBC, CNN and the rest are nothing more than headline gathers. I read a headline and head straight to the nearest blog I feel will give me the best all around picture of what is really going on. Not only that, I feel I can trust the blogsphere more than the media outlets.

The current situation in Iraq is a clear case in point. Go to any media outlet you want and the "sky is falling" and the word "anarchy" is in virtually every headline. Sure this is serious and people are dying but this was coming for a long time. The coalition decided to push the issue now instead of waiting until closer to the hand over of power in less than 90 days - better to get it over with now. Another good reason for doing it now is the rotation of troops currently going on. The US has a lot more troops in the area at the moment.

I'd rather read Steyn, The Belmont Club, The American Thinker and the rest of my blogroll than what's in the mainstream press. I read Biased BBC before I actually read the BBC page.

I suppose we need them because they can field the reporters, have the equipment and money to be on the spot. But for me just as, if not more, important is the blogsphere. For it is in the blogsphere where the smoke and mirrors are removed, the spin unspun, the gaps filled and finally the truth told.

It bothers me greatly. How in the hell does the average person in the street have a chance to get the truth? They are constantly fed a stream of garbage from the TV, press and radio. I spend an inordinate amount of time talking to people in order to set the record straight. I should be able to go to my local and enjoy a friendly pint and bit of conversation. Instead I spend my time unspinng the BBC and the Guardian, undoing anti-American broadcast bullshit and generally educating my friends who don't have the time to go behind the headlines. Trust me, alcohol and this environment are rarely compatible.

I just got off the phone after brow beating my local radio station for their continuing biased reporting of the situation in Iraq. I have also emailed them several times on the same subject. Their alternating expert on the situation is either, George Galloway or someone from the anti-war coalition. Galloway has been, kicked out of the labour party and is linked to the oil-for-food scandal in Iraq. He also is or has been under investigation for missing funds from a charity he ran. Galloway once said "the fall of the Soviet Union was the saddest day in my life". The anti-war representatives advice is to pull the US and UK troops out now. Yeah, like that is going to help.

So, where does that leave the mainstream news media and the blogsphere? It is already a marriage of conveince. I sense a change in the air and it's the mainstream media that is going to be the junior partner. They operate from too narrow a perspective, have editors to answer to and they all have political affiliations. The blogsphere has all of that as well but the blogsphere has so much more. The blogsphere is bigger, has more time, has no deadlines and while bloggers may have political affiliations or axes to grind, the blogsphere is self policing. Self policing is usually a bad thing but in this case it is as if a million (or more) eyes are all watching. Say something you can't back up and you'll know about it and so will the blogsphere.

Well, I feel better anyway. What time does the pub open?