http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=58&aid=168086
I argued that TMZ is absolutely legit at this point. However, TMZ is able to do things that other media entities cannot. What’s that you say? Well, TMZ pays its sources. And honestly, if I had, lets say, $5,000 to break off to LA ambulance drivers so that I could get pictures of a dead celeb being brought into the morgue, well then this blog would get it first too. Now, there are instances when such celeb gossip/pseudo news sites are wrong. And that’s where the consumer must be careful. Brick and mortar news operations require sources to come clean with their names, and they don’t pay for information. So it’s up to you to decide whether you want news that’s been paid for and could therefore be tainted by the payees agenda or whether you want news that comes from the public record/people willing to go on the record.
It’s a conundrum, no?
There are many out there who would say that all media is financially compromised by the very act of taking ads. But then again, these are the same folks who want their news for free yet demand and expect for their news organizations to continue to investigate government wrongdoing. These folks also refuse to buy subscriptions to a newspaper or magazine… Hmm.
Information really isn’t free is it? Whether a Web site bought it on the front end or you buy it on the back end, money somehow changed hands.
