Following the Story

One of the big advantages that blogs have over the mainstream media is the ability, and willingness, to stay with a story over a period of time. For some reason newspapers will run an initial story and move along. Even when it becomes apparent that the initial story was wrong, or at least incomplete, they are unwilling to run a correction or an amplification.

The story of the recently freed Italian communist journalist Sgrena is a great example. The N&O ran an initial piece that relied primarily on the comments of the journalist. Her anti-Americanism was so complete that she claimed U.S. forces had tried to assassinate her. As usually happens, the military is slow to respond as they gather evidence and are averse to releasing incorrect information.

So now, 3 days later, the military information is starting to leak out, but also investigators are gathering information that is adding detail to the story. And some of the best investigation is done by blogs - see here. Will the N&O do a follow-up story exploring the inconsistencies of this journalist?