Real journalists put in the work

Re “Breaking news,” Current, July 16

The problem with today’s fractured media marketplace is not the variety and number of outlets but the reliability of those outlets. In the halcyon days of the news, the major networks and news bureaus had the resources and the staff to cover stories thoroughly and thoughtfully. Today, any news junkie can pull a few quotes from other sources, post them on a blog and call himself a journalist without doing any of the work.

I spent three years in high school journalism and consider myself more a journalist than any blogger because I did the research -- I read endless documents, made phone calls and wrote e-mails and actually set foot in the offices of the people I interviewed face to face. It is the knowledge that reporters from trusted news sources go to these lengths and more to get the facts that makes The Times and others far and away more reliable sources than any Joe Blogger.

MATT STAUFFER

Long Beach