Journalistic Integrity, the new jumbo shrimp?

I've read the back and forth about the power or lack thereof of bloggers and blogging vice the mainstream media. I also started watching Bill Moyer's production on PBS last night. We've all witnessed the erosion of integrity of our journalists in pursuit of advertising dollars or in support of the orchestrated chaos we see in our foreign policy. Objectivity is ever more questionable, and a story that sounds just a little too juicy probably didn't have the proper research, or confirmation of sources, but it sells so ship it. That is where I place the importance of bloggers. I am sure there are analysts and writers much more practiced and skilled than myself that do more justice to the topic, but I see blogging as a check to the power of the mainstream media. It keeps them a little bit more honest, because someone just might be watching for more than the fluffy stuff. Those of us that have been around a while used to put a lot of faith in those reporters and anchors that we trusted to keep us informed. Now we have to wonder about every one of them. It's sad, when a good part of the public still relies on those questionable folks to tell them about local, national, and world events. Relying on mainstream media is just informed ignorance. It's too easy to pull the wool over too many eyes. Enter the bloggers. I don't include myself in that group because I just usually bitch about something I think could be better, but there are folks that invest a good deal of themselves and their time just to tell the truth as best they can. Hopefully it will be enough, because as we've seen, the paid guys and gals, the one's we've relied upon, the one's we've looked to for the truth, are no longer worthy of our trust. And that is sad. Journalistic integrity is like saying honest politics. You need a little tongue in your cheek. Nevertheless, I'll attempt to remain hopelessly optimistic that journalists see the error of their ways. Otherwise democracy as we know might one day wake up dead.