The value of blogs as a primary source of news

A recent post discussing the value of blogs as a primary source of news appears in the Belmont Club.

"Weblogs -- or blogs -- have been a hotbed of analysis and news aggregation for some time, but their value as a primary source of news has lagged behind. The blogosphere has proved competent enough to spot faked documents on 60 Minutes, but it hasn't yet beaten the MSM at finding fact first very often. That may change. Consider the example of Wow Philippines, a site run by an American called Bob Martin who has lived in Mindanao for the last five years. He writes:

I heard an interesting rumor today. I was talking to an American fellow who has ties to the US Military and he told me that the word is flying around US Military circles that the suicide bombers in the recent Bali attack were Filipino. Of course, it is widely believed that the planners of the plot were Indonesian JI members, but this fellow says that the actual bombers were Filipinos who were recruited by the JI members when they were in Mindanao."

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