Investigative journalism by amateurs
Will bloggers ever go to the same lengths that professional journalists do to get a good story? I mean, without a payroll? Newspapers claim it will never happen.
Sometimes it will. The following is a wonderful case where very passionate fans did their own amazing science and investigative research worthy of any national newspaper or world-class magazine. The story is about whether vegan resturants in LA are truly vegan, but the larger story is how deep and thorough their investigation was. I'd be curious to know where they learned their skills.
Oh, if you are a vegan (or even a vegatarian) you'll want to read this.
UPDATE: Avi Solomon suggested another in-depth investigative report generated outside of professional journalists. Three students from Singapore created this very impressive long-form article, with photos, of Surrogate Motherhood in India, "the ultimate outsourcing job."
Reminds me of last year's story where high school students identified the frequently mislabeled sushi fish in NYC. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/22/science/22fish.html?partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all
Actually, that report shows a lot more in depth understanding of the subject and care with the testing than I've seen in a while from the major news sources. Part of caring deeply about the subject to understand it well I guess.