OhMyLosingMoney

This despite free money from a friendly Blue House.  I echo GI Korea’s objections to this statement:

OhmyNews execs say the biggest difference between blogs and their service is the role of professional journalists. Blogs don’t have the credibility of OhmyNews, where professionals screen, edit, and fact-check stories from ordinary folks to filter out inaccuracies and potentially libelous claims, the company argues. Whether that kind of quality control will differentiate OhmyNews from competing sources of news and commentary remains to be seen. For the moment, though, the company remains long on idealism but short on a workable business strategy.

Simply laughable.  I wonder how long OMN would last if it were to suddenly fall under the jurisdiction of U.S. (or British!) libel laws.  What has always astonished me is that this online “news” service doesn’t do what blogs do — actually link to  reliable sources to prove the facts it cites.  As a result, you get some real whoppers, to say nothing of  the  general absence of balance or  logic.  I’m all for a diversity of views, but I don’t think the quality of public debate is improved by shoddy reporting and bad logic.  Let the marketplace be heard.

To be fair, OMN gets credit for  this piece of good reporting, a few good interviews, and plenty of great demonstration pics.  What is the common denominator?  Well, with the exception of the first piece, OMN can report competently as long as it plays no role in writing or editing the final product. 

Read the rest here.

3 Responses