On chapter eight, on page 171, Gillmor, writes about “whose information do you trust” he talks about how Google decided not to post any Blogs on its news sites even thought some of the best Bloggers post really interesting information about the current news and events and Bloggers are doing a good job covering those events. In my opinion Google should allow the best Bloggers with relevant information about news or events to be searchable in “Google News”. Thus however, Google could put a disclaimer informing people that the Blog is not a news website but it has relevant information about the topic being searched. Thus readers can have more options and they would decide how to interpret the comments being posted Online.
On chapter nine Gillmor also, talks about the new changes in technology, has changed the way news are being presented to the public he explains how pictures, stories and videos can easily be manipulated to take advantage of something. Gillmor gives the example of the 2004, presidential campaign in which someone posted a fake photo of John Kerry with Jane Fonda. “Kerry and Fonda in a photo that turned out to be doctored were show “together” at a 1970s rally protesting the Vietnam War. It was unclear who crated the fake picture, but the willingness of many people to trust this picture spoke volumes about how easy it is to manipulate public opinion”. (Gillmor, 177).
As Internet users, we have to keep in mind that not everything we see online is trustworthy, especially if the information found in not from a trustable source. Blogs can be trustable if they are at least being cited by other people. The lesson to be learned is to be suspicious when information being post online does not have a reputable source. This does not mean that we have to rely on the traditional media to deliver the news. It just means we have to be a little more suspicious about the way news are presented and question who presents the news and why.
