I received an e-mail from one of the German journalists who wrote the story Arafat Bombs, Europe Pays, about EU funding for the PA terror regime, which I translated into English and posted here back in June
my name is Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff, I am the Washington Bureau Chief for DIE ZEIT, the German weekly newspaper. Several weeks ago I found an article that I wrote together with a colleague, Bruno Schirra, posted on the web in an English translation, your translation. Thank you very much. The English version was very helpful, it travelled the world.He lets me know that a second installment of the story will be appearing in this week's newspaper and online. I plan to link to and translate the story. He concludes:
By the way, you have commented on Chris Pattens response to our first piece. I felt you remarks made a lot of sense: Patten mostly denied what be didn't claim (or not exactly) So I am still looking for our mistake in reporting - and haven't found it. I could go into detail if need be (and have had to do so on several occasions since). We'll see what Pattens reaction will be this time around.And this illustrates how blogging, at its best, can add value to "big journalism". These guys wrote a first-rate piece of investigative journalism and they deserve the real credit. But I also added value by translating their work into English and making it accessible to a larger audience. Other bloggers linked to it (most notably Charles Johnson and Steven Den Beste ) and publicized it even further. James Taranto found it on Charles' blog, linked to it, brought it to even more readers, and so on. No, blogging is not in the same league as, say gathering off-the-record confessions from EU diplomats, but it can and does add value to the work of professional journalists. Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at August 10, 2002 07:18 AM
My husband also saw it a few weeks ago on an Israeli forum.
Posted by: Imshin J on August 10, 2002 03:22 AMI am a middle-aged woman who knows little about the net, and even less about computers. I am hooked up via webtv. After a couple of years wandering around trying to find sites that were worth reading, I finally found blogs and my world hasn't been the same since. I no longer have to depend on mainstream media for my news. I am able to read the main journalists - and then I read those who fact-check those journalists to within an inch of their lives! I am able to read Arab propaga...er...English newspapers, as well as papers from around the world. I'm better able to discern what is and what isn't pertinent and factual, and what is pure bias.
I guess what I am saying is that I greatly appreciate the work that you, and others like you, do. There is so much out there that is pure bunkum and it isn't easy to separate the wheat from the chaff. You make that job much easier. For that I am forever grateful.
Thanks.
Dee
Posted by: Dee Bates on August 12, 2002 06:41 AM