Takes more than a modem and a mouth to be a journalist

For example, over at HaloScan.Com, a "free comment website" where anti-Semitic propaganda flies like lightning bugs in spring, a poster who calls himself "Die for the Elite" suggests Capitol Hill Blue founder and publisher Doug Thompson is an agent of the American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

He writes:

Seems Doug consistently looks away any time AIPAC is near a story, but focusing on the Abramoff scandal sure makes him look tough on corruption, while diverting attention from the bigger culprit AIPAC. Could Doug be AIPAC's patsy, with AIPAC officials providing many of his news tips for his other stories?

This would probably come as a real surprise to AIPAC, which tried more than once to get Thompson fired during his tenure on Capitol Hill because his first Congressional job was press secretary to Illinois Congressman Paul Findley, the author of "They Dare to Speak Out," an expose of AIPAC's power in Washington.

It would have been simple enough to check out. Thompson's bio on the CHB web site lists his job with Findley and anyone familiar with AIPAC's history knows they raised millions of dollars to defeat the Illinois Congressman in 1982.

Thompson's wife is also half-Lebanese, a point AIPAC raised with his employers on Capitol Hill when they tried to have him fired.

We learned long ago that research is a foreign concept for too many of those who claim to be web journalists.

For example, Rense.Com columnist Doug Herman visited the Capitol Hill Blue bulletin board, ReaderRant, to castigate Thompson for writing about Charlie Sheen, saying "Charlie Sheen has an Oscar. What have you accomplished?"

We're not quite sure what Charlie Sheen has or has not accomplished but an Academy Award sure ain't one of them, something Herman could have discovered with a quick visit to the Oscar web site or the Internet Movie Database. Herman came to Capitol Hill Blue to complain about what he considered to be Thompson's lack of research. Hmmm.

Our favorite, however, is a blogger Kurt Nimmo's Another Day in the Empire where he defends his begging for donations by claiming Thompson lines his pockets with ad money from Capitol Hill Blue.

Writes Nimmo:

I notice Capitol Hill Blue is teeming with banner ads for corporate interests such as Verizon, the Dish Network, Best Western, TiVo, and others. I bet you put those up for free. Let's face it, Doug. It costs money to run a website. Some of us write about other things besides nine eleven and as journalists we'd like to get paid for it. I have a donation button on my blog. I'd like to write political commentary and get paid for it like the hacks over at the Washington Post and the New York Times. I don't consider myself a scam artist for putting up a donation button. I wonder how much of that lucrative banner income works its way to your bank account, Mr. Thompson.

None of it actually. A little research by Mr. Nimmo would have discovered the CHB FAQ page which clearly states:

Nobody here draws a salary. Blue is a not-for-profit operation where everyone donates their time and efforts. Any revenue we might bring in from ads goes to a favorite charity.

A little more effort might have uncovered stories about our efforts during Hurricane Katrina where Thompson not only donated the ad proceeds to relief agencies, but matched, dollar for dollar, contributions from Capitol Hill Blue readers:

Readers of Capitol Hill Blue in September gave $16,745 to relief efforts for victims of Hurricane Katrina and the web site matched those contributions for combined donations of $33,490.

Blue, the oldest political news web site on the Internet, also plans to contribute 100 percent of its ad revenue for the month of September. Preliminary figures from the web site's ad representatives show the September ad revenue to be more than $20,000, which will bring the total donations to over $50,000.

It takes more than a modem and a mouth to be a journalist. Research also requires more than running a quick Google search. It requires training and hard work, two items we find lacking in those who claim to know more than us about our chosen profession.

--Teresa Hampton
Editor, Capitol Hill Blue