Here’s a line of reasoning that shows up all too often in the mainstream press, especially newspapers.

A) Some blogs publish rumors that are later proven false
B) Blogs have no editorial “controls”
C) Newspapers have editorial controls
=Therefore, newspapers are superior sources of truth.

The Sun-Times engages in this fallacious reasoning this morning, attacking blogs for repeating a rumor that a tape exists of Michelle Obama using the word “whitey” from the pulpit of Trinity United. They write:

For several weeks, a scurrilous rumor about Michelle Obama has wafted through the blogosphere with an awful stench. But you didn’t hear about it in this newspaper for the best of reasons: Not a shred of evidence said it was true.

In the responsible, established media world — too often dismissed as the clueless “mainstream media” — actual facts still matter, while in the blogging world just about any unsubstantiated slur can make the rounds, from there to be picked up and amplified by talk radio

They go on to undermine blogs as a source of “facts” by concluding:

The contemporary media landscape too often resembles a fairground of lies, distortion and deceit, though plenty of good information can be found, too — in the paper, on the radio, on cable or online.

Just don’t be a chump. Consider the source.

The message is obvious. “Consider the source”: Newspapers=Reliable, Blogs & Talk Radio=Unreliable.

This is the very reasoning that made the Blogosphere necessary. New Media is a dialogue. It isn’t one blog, or even two. It’s a dialogue with thousands of bloggers and it’s a dialogue … yes … with newspapers. Indeed, the beauty of a dialogue is that not every assertion or blog post is made with a Truth-claim. When I post something on this blog, I don’t expect it to be the final word. Whereas a newspaper in fact does.

But the idea is that more voices in the conversation ensure better accuracy. And by having all us scurrilous bloggers out here who dare to repeat unfounded rumors, we bring thousands of voices to the conversation.

Our power is not in our ability to determine fact from fiction, but rather in the perspective that we bring to the question.

Yes, there is always a risk in the blogosphere that rumors will circulate  falsely. But the reward is that, because the conversation is never “over”, false rumors will eventually be labeled as such. In the old media world, in which a case was closed once CBS did a story on it, the same couldn’t be said. Fallacies could literally be enshrined into the cultural record.

It’s not a perfect world, but it’s a better one.