The lesson of Judith Miller is that journalists can be full of crap too.

[originalpckelly]

I've heard a lot of whining from the MSM about the presence of bloggers, and how they're destroying journalism. Yeah, and the journalists who fucked the world up for decades by simply believing their sources didn't do that?

A journalist wants you to believe their credibility, but there is no such thing as credibility. Even if someone has been accurate in the past, it doesn't mean they can't be full of it now. Each story, each claim, must be taken by itself. If no hard evidence is shown to back the claim up, and it is not a matter of logic that can be proved on its own with minimal use of observation, then one should not simply "believe" someone.

The problem with our system of government is the fact that instead of being transparent, it is so opaque that only well-connected journalists can relay information to the public. This, as our nation observed in the case of Judy Miller, presents itself as an inherently flawed approach.

People lie, and they can manipulate reporters to propagandize a nation. This is what happened with the outing of Valerie Wilson.

We even have open evidence of someone admitting that they know of this. Mr. Cramer, whose name has been in the headlines in recent weeks, demonstrates that CEOs lie to the people covering them. Mr. Cramer also admitted that it is a standard tactic to manipulate journalists, at least by those at hedge funds.

Here is the video on The Daily Show, admitting CEOs lied to him:
http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=220536&title=jim-cramer-pt.-1

I cannot recall precisely when it was during the interview, but it was there.

Mr. Cramer admitted manipulation of the media, in a video featured in part in the interview above, but it was removed after a copyright claim by his company! Talk about crooked. I went to search for it, and it was gone! I cannot believe it...NOT! I'm actually not surprised.