Why blogs are just one more corruptible media source

Have I really failed to post for the last two weeks? I'm lame. I'm also busy visiting grad schools, but I'm lame nonetheless.

(Aside for those who care: I got into University of Washington, Carnegie-Mellon, Cornell, UC San Diego, and UWisconsin at Madison. I got dicked by Princeton, Berkeley, Stanford, and MIT. That's a whole other story. I think I got a lukewarm rec from one of my rec writers, which is fucking lame and an utter breach of protocol...you tell someone you're not comfortable writing them a good rec; you don't write them a bad rec. I was pissed about it [and still am], but oh well. I got into good schools anyway, which of course is a testament to my awesomeness. I was not keen on Stanford or Berkeley to begin with. It has been suggested to me that the Stanford guys make poor advisors. And Berkeley's strengths these days are more in databases and networking than systems, which is my area. I was pissed/dejected about not getting into MIT as I did want to go there, but I've also had increasing evidence that it is dysfunctionally competitive, so it's probably just as well I don't end up there. My theory on Princeton is that I just wasn't a good fit there, which is reasonable.

I'm reserving judgment on the places I did get into until I visit them all, but I suspect I'll end up at University of Washington. I'm not thrilled with the idea of going back to Seattle as it kind of feels like a step backwards, but oh well. I think grad school in Seattle will be different than working in a dysfunctional job at Microsoft in Seattle.)

Anyway, moving on, I was not at all surprised to see a New York Times article about shady relationships between PR firms and bloggers. This is the problem with blogs as news sources. There is virtually no accountability on the part of bloggers for either the accuracy of their post or citation of their sources. The degree to which bloggers have power as a news source is exactly the degree to which they will be manipulated by PR entities whether government or corporate.

Just wait. Coming soon: "The Iconoclast Blog: Exposing the Truths Other Media Are Afraid To Talk About! (Brought to you by Wal-Mart)"

Depressed yet? :)