> I have not heard of a case where the press was involved in corruption - honestly. And even if they were corrupt, they were corrupt with private money.
It's actually fairly commonplace for "the press" to be involved in public corruption. They'll even defend the corruption.
> I doubt a blogger will be able to take on complex and multi-faceted corruption cases while he is being sued from all sides.
And how many press organizations will do that?
More important, that's irrelevant because corruption investigations rarely involve lawsuits.
> It's actually fairly commonplace for "the press" to be involved in public corruption. They'll even defend the corruption.
Can you give some examples?
> And how many press organizations will do that?
Not all papers - but some do. In my country there are 2 good English newspapers and one magazine that does excellent investigative reporting.
> More important, that's irrelevant because corruption investigations rarely involve lawsuits.
Corruption cases are full of lawsuits! My favourite investigative magazine (http://www.noseweek.co.za/) was closed for almost a year because the person running it was sued for libel. He won that lawsuit - but he had to stop publishing that year while defending himself in court.
In 2007 he was sued by a bank to prevent him from naming a list of clients that the bank helped with tax evasion - he won again and published the list of names.
>> More important, that's irrelevant because corruption investigations rarely involve lawsuits.
> Corruption cases are full of lawsuits!
We're both assuming that our home turf is universal.
Libel suits in the US are extremely rare. Libel lawsuits involving public figures are a small minority because they're almost impossible to win. If the accused libeler can argue "I'm part of the press", it's even worse.
As a result, libel lawsuits aren't a factor in corruption investigations in the US.
> Could we please have some examples? I can recall many cases where the press has made mistakes, but none where they were actively corrupt.
What definition of "actively corrupt" are we using? Is it enough for them to get paid off in return for looking the other way/not reporting, or do they have to actually steal something? Does it matter who pays them and what the connection is between the source of the money and the evil-doer.
Note that "the press" is often a cheap date. They'll go out of their way to avoid writing bad things about folks/programs/issues that they like. They'll trade access for non-coverage.
For example, CNN admits that they didn't report things that Saddam Hussein didn't want known in return for being able to report from pre-war Iraq. That let them make money, money that didn't come from SH. Do you count it as corruption? (I don't, but many folks who get excited about corruption do.)
It's actually fairly commonplace for "the press" to be involved in public corruption. They'll even defend the corruption.
> I doubt a blogger will be able to take on complex and multi-faceted corruption cases while he is being sued from all sides.
And how many press organizations will do that?
More important, that's irrelevant because corruption investigations rarely involve lawsuits.