You may recall I explored similar issues last year with my Internet Writing class (Kaycee Nicole). These issues of legitimacy are extremely complicated and poke at a sensitive area of our Bill of Rights: the First Amendment. Before we point the finger at Graff and accuse him of something he has not yet done (and hopefully never will), please consider the blog as a corruptable--yet not inherently bad--institution. Blogging is a medium, a tool. Blogging is like a kitchen knife: usefull and constructive for many things--in the right hands. But it is not the kitchen knife that hurts people, organizations, etc.

People are to blame for bad reporting in the blogging genre. Restricting people's ability to freely blog is not only unfair, but also unjust. It would be just about as ridiculous as putting restrictions on kitchen knives. (Maybe we can save people from being sliced or stabbed??!! ) Putting restrictions on the media through which people can express themselves puts only more restrictions on how people can express themselves.

Therefore, I would argue that it is not relevant what negative effect a medium can have. Media are simply a tool we can use to pass on information, not living things with minds of their own (people). It is not very productive to put restrictions on blogging; for that is not addressing the source of the problem, the unjust acts of the people behind the blogs. Blogging can be just as powerful a medium for positive and honest journalism--so long as we control the people, not the mediation.