My Dots for Friday, March 23, 2007

Stephen Merchant, one half of the comic duo behind “Extras” and “The Office,” wrote an opinion piece for “The Guardian” yesterday wherein he describes the deplorable state of the press. Specifically, on how the press reliance on citizen journalism on sites like Wikipedia is leading to a humber of high-profile recantings.

Quoted: Therefore, I implore my fellow journalists to heed my words: we must not let our standards drop. We are bastions of truth and integrity. As Thomas Jefferson once said, “Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.” I think Thomas Jefferson said that, but I can’t be sure. I got it off the internet.