Waldo Jaquith owns no printing press. His distribution is exactly zero. And his "newsroom" consists of just one person: Jaquith.
Still, in Charlottesville media circles, the 27-year-old blogger occasionally carries
Ideas generated on his blog, cville news.com, sometimes spark stories in other publications and--Jaquith says--reporters from local papers regularly troll his site for story ideas, feedback, and sources.
He takes that as a compliment.
When he started the blog five years ago, that's exactly how he envisioned it working.
"I don't pretend to be a journalist," Jaquith said. "I don't know anything about journalism, and I'm horrified that someone might use me as a primary source of news."
Still, he's delighted to have the attention of mainstream journalists in Charlottesville.
Other than having one person serving as an entire operation, his model isn't much different from traditional news outlets.
"When I'm wrong, I say I'm wrong. When I don't know something, I say I don't know it," Jaquith said. "When I get a tip, I say, 'I don't know if this is real.' I try to set a good example."
And, he said, those of us who attended a traditional journalism school--who hold formal editing meetings and who publish newspapers or TV broadcasts--have nothing to fear from his blog.
In fact, if we're paying attention, he argues, we have everything to gain from his slice of cyberspace.
A few years ago, for instance,
Fortunately, a local reporter was monitoring the blog and subsequently published a story that not only reported the news on the rising assessments, but also quoted posters from cvillenews .com as sources in the article.
"It was not just a motivator to do the story, but it was a source of interview subjects," Jaquith said. "And I'd like to think it worked for everybody."
It certainly worked for the readers and residents who learned more about the subject from the article.
Jaquith understands that mainstream media aren't always going to write about subjects he thinks are newsworthy.
"An important part of my role is to make sure that I provide an outlet for news that might not make the cut in traditional media outlets," he said.
For instance, a few weeks ago he noticed that a downtown surplus store had closed. He knew that the shop had long served the needs of low-income residents and saw it as one more sign of gentrification in downtown Charlottesville. So he wrote about it on his blog.
"It's not the kind of story that makes the 11 o'clock news or makes the front page of the Daily Progess," the daily paper in Charlottesville.
So-called news blogs don't always have the best reputations, Jaquith concedes.
But neither do newspapers. If readers still trust The New York Times after the Jayson Blair scandal, then bloggers deserve the same second chance, he said.
And, to be sure, many blogs have very obvious political slants or agendas.
That, however, is no reason to disregard all of them.
"You need to judge a blog the same way you would judge another person or another news outlet," Jaquith said. For instance, some might find Fox News to have a conservative slant, while others have accused CNN of showing a liberal bias.
"You have to learn as a reader what each [blog's] spin is or what their take on the world is."
And just because a nontraditional media makes a mistake is no reason to dismiss its overall credibility.
"Any blog is going to have its Dewey-defeats-Truman moment," he noted. "But that was hardly invented by blogs."
As circulation at many newspapers continues to decline, as layoffs hit newsrooms at major newspaper companies, and as technology gives readers more power and choices in how they receive their information, can any journalist really afford to ignore a source of information?
The bottom line, as this blogger sees it: "It is not good for any journalist who is concerned with the public feedback loop to dismiss all blogs."
Blogs such as cvillenews.com give residents--or, to journalists, readers--a chance to voice their concerns, questions, and opinions unfiltered by traditional media.
They're sending a message to traditional newsrooms everywhere.
What are they saying? Don't hold back information. Just because you own the press doesn't give you the right to decide what's important to me.
And if you try, I'm going to find that information someplace else, and that's likely to be a community blog.
Dangerous? Not if you apply good judgment and qualify your reports.
How many people, for instance, thought John Kerry defeated President Bush after several high-profile blogs reported what they described as official exit-poll data showing Kerry with a comfortable lead?
Late afternoon on that Election Day, I found myself scanning news blogs for the early word I knew they'd have. And when I found it, I briefly posted a link to it on fredericksburg.com with a notation of the source.
Was it wrong? The exit poll data sure was! But was my decision to link to the blog reports the wrong one for a traditional media?
I didn't think so. The information was out there, people were talking about it, and who was I to block others from hearing Election Day prediction whispers?
Does that mean newspapers and TV networks should publish every rumor or gossip?
No--but they should at least be aware of what's floating around in the blogosphere, just as they would in their real communities.
In reporting on the recent stabbing of a Courtland High School student, for instance, The Free Lance-Star reported that "one rumor" was that the student was a victim of mistaken identity, for instance.
It's a difficult choice: trying to maintain the integrity your readers expect from the official voice of the community, while keeping up with the cybervoices who don't hold editors' meetings before publishing information.
If we don't at least listen to them, it's very likely they'll stop listening to us.
Brian Baer is editor of fredericksburg.com