You know how DU out-flanks and out-does our so-called media?

[Obamarama]

Okay, I know I will be stating the obvious for many who may read this post, BUT....

We at DU have something that the media did away with a LONG time ago: researchers and fact checkers. As a matter of fact, according to the registered users tally, we have nearly 86,000 researchers and fact checkers.

Well, of course a handful of that 86,000 act of purveyors of information, links to information, and political analysis by some pretty intelligent people. That being said, even a HANDFUL out of nearly 86,000 still constitutes a bevy of researchers and fact-checkers that run into the thousands.

And, not all of the information is correct, not all of it is relevant, and some of it is simply devoid of any logic at all. But more often than not, I read about something -- and the minute details of that "something" -- days, sometimes weeks before it gets its requisite 30-second sound byte from the corporate talking heads in the "mainstream media."

I've been a DU regular for three years, and I don't know why it took this long for me to make this connection, but it really hit me over the head when the UAE-US port fiasco shit hit the fan in the "media." When my co-workers and family were acting like deer in the headlights, I was able to tell them, "Oh, I knew about this almost a week ago....where have you been?" Some of them said things like "How come you know about this...I haven't seen or heard anything about this on the news until today. Where have YOU been that you know this information?"

Democratic Underground, I told them. Of course I have been telling them about DU almost since I've been part of the community here. They either paid no attention or thought it was just too radical to for them.

I think I got their attention this week.

So, THANKS, all my fellow researchers and fact-checkers. We're doing an awesome job had handling a responsibility the media has completely forgotten about.

[BlueEyedSon]

1. That's 172,000 eyeballs!

[ChairmanAgnostic]

3. whoa. They don't call me four eyes for nothing.

There is a corallery. Our agenda is for the truth to come out, even it upsets our apple cart. Today's MSM is beholden to thine Corporate Master. Truth is immaterial. That makes our job easier.

Have you ever seen a critical report on GE ever air on NBC?

[BlueEyedSon]

10. That makes 172,002!

[Mythsaje]

2. My favorite typos

are when they somehow say more about the subject than the writer intended.

Such as...

Some of them said things like "How come you know about this...I haven't seen or heard anything about this on the news until toady.

Which toady in particular? Tweety? Rush? Savage?

:evilgrin:

Sometimes I just love typos.

[Obamarama]

4. ROFLMAO...

HEY..be nice. I kicked the caffiene habit and this is only my 5th morning sans coffee.

Okay...off to edit my post.

[Mythsaje]

6. Oh, I was serious...

Typos like that are almost Freudian. I remember once someone accidentally referred to the "Muddle East." I thought that remarkably appropriate and never forgot it. LMAO, actually.

Good luck with the caffeine thing. I can't imagine forgoing coffee and caffeine.

[Richard Steele]

11. I had a feeling a lack of coffee was involved, so I made you a cup:

[The Witch]

15. Katie Couric oughta drink outta that every day.

Oh, wait, I think she does.

[Lars39]

5. Agreed.

And on its very best days, DU also acts as a think tank of sorts.
Anyone in politics would be foolish to not take advantage of this. :)

[LisaLynne]

7. I totally agree.

Some people think of the forums as pointless ranting, but I see DU as a place to come and get our thoughts together. Yeah, we can rant, but in the midst of it, we also solidify our arguments, get our facts straight, and sometimes come up with some brilliant ideas and insights. I think that's what is so great and important about this place.

So, :toast: to DU!

[ArbustoBuster]

17. Yep! That's the purpose of argument.

We lay out all our thoughts - good, bad, right, and wrong - and allow the discussion to hammer out the bad and the wrong, leaving behind only the good and the correct. This is the marketplace of ideas which our founding fathers wanted us to have and to use.

[smomfr]

8. The only reason I buy fish wrap anymore ........

is for the crossword. Everything else in it is old news.

[oneold1-4u]

9. Get news here

A short time back, the mudslide in the Philippines was first seen here! I looked all over the web for hours before the media announced it!
It seems that any breaking news that might not be planned for by the government, must simply be ignored as long as possible. Then they try to fit it in their scheduling of covering up their crap, like the port thing.
We should, perhaps, ignore all world catastrophes until we get at what this administration has up their sleeve today!

[seabeyond]

12. my husband dismissed this site. last week asking hubby why

people are bothered, nsa, roberts making deal with bush to make spying legal, the 6 ports, cheney hiding shooting, new torture pictures and a few others all on the same day he told me.......

you get your info from your site. the rest of the people dont know anything. he says i watch the news and i dont know most of the stuff you are talking about. people dont know. they are watching news and arent being told.

this was the first time he acknowledge this site in that manner.

[progressoid]

13. YEP - My wife watches CNN all the time. Anything they choose to report on

I've already read here days earlier. Of course that's only IF they decide to report on it. Even then, it's usually so abbreviated and skewed, it's useless.

[byronius]

14. This happens to me all the time. DU is always light-years ahead.

And since information is power, I get powerful. Long Live Democratic Underground.

[Kansas Wyatt]

16. It's actually funny and boring to watch the MSM now.

The MSM is always about 1-2 weeks late on reporting important news, and they act like it is a ground breaking revelation reported in real time. Some stuff shows up a month late, and a lot of important informative news never shows up at all.

Up until lately, it was mostly spin reporting to cast BushCo & Republicans, Inc. in a positive light, but the propaganda catapults are even getting fed up with the BS now.

[RazzleDazzle]

18. We have become the media

Seriously.

Not just DU but the blogs too, but DU is seriously unerestimated by a lot of folks (and it suddenly occurs to me this is probably a GOOD thing in some ways, altho there are plenty of others who do not underestimate us, but who flock here to disrupt, plant disinfo, etc.).

Between DU, the blogs, and a few other places like BuzzFlash, Democrats.org, and a few places like TruthOut, CommonDreams, etc., there is a seachange going on in the media. The so-called MSM simply can't be trusted any more, and all of us know it. Too many American's DON'T yet know it, but I think more and more are waking up.