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the face of journalism's changed since I was a kid; I've talked with plenty of journalists researching stories, and things like twitter posts and linkedin profiles are part of the landscape now. we as readers like to put much of the onus on the writer, in this day and age it's probably more important for the reader to be aware and informed as well.

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They may be part of the landscape but that doesn't mean taking them at face value is good journalism. And I think the reliability of journalism has a large impact on how aware and informed it's even possible for a reader to be.

As much as we like to think journalists are doing public service, they are working for commercial organizations struggling to make money. One aspect of being informed is recognizing that news organizations are companies trying to make money, and those incentives aren't necessarily aligned with fair and balanced reporting. All the 'tiger mom' stuff is a perfect example of this; much of the hoopla surrounding it stems from the inflammatory title that the editor chose for it... definitely sold a lot of papers and a lot of her book.

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