Help readers find source material, and without any reporting, parsing, abbreviating etc. by journalists, let the readers at the raw material. There's no reason why this can't be done in print either (at a minimum links within news, news analysis and opinion pieces). I've posted on Link Journalism but this term is shorthand for external links, when internal links are just as important.
I get my best handle on the two American presidential candidates various policy positions and a sense of them as candidates, not by reading numerous commentaries and news reports about their speeches, but by simply reading their speeches. It takes time to find them, and it's a lot easier if someone has already done it. Which is why I appreciate posts like these on to these today on http://www.iht.com/.
Text: McCain's speech
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
The following is the text of a speech given by Senator John McCain on the American economy in Virginia Beach on Monday as provided by the McCain campaign
Text: Obama's speech
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
The following is the text of a speech given by Senator Barack Obama on his economic policy in Toledo, Ohio, on Monday as prepared for delivery and provided by the Obama campaign.
By way of contrast there is no link provided to even one of Palin's speeches, despite this article today:
POLITICAL MEMO
Palin's speeches electrify, but her zeal poses risks
I mention my Auvergne blog, because it would be interesting to find blogs that:
(a) don't make any comment on the news - which mine nearly qualifies for however it does make the odd observation very rarely; typically A Place in the Auvergne just re-organizes IHT content in a way I can understand and follow world events more clearly - story telling basically beyond a simple aggregator, article selection obviously playing a role but leaving space for the reader to draw their own conclusions;
(b) don't even use any journalism reports at all, but just went to source material itself. In the case of politics, the two speeches quoted below are an example; in the case of a WHO or UNHCR report, simply their text alone on any given subject and the text (press releases for example) of governments, organisations etc taking a contrarian view to their reports.
The above examples are something http://www.iht.com/ does do, occasionally, and the newspaper extremely rarely (and even then, extracts and selected passages).
READ AN ALTERNATIVE IHT DAILY NARRATIVE AT
A PLACE IN THE AUVERGNE
International Herald Tribune
IHT
New York Times
NYT
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