So sayeth Joshua Micah Marshall, founder of the liberal U.S. political blog Talking Points Memo, and the winner of a prestigious Polk award for his coverage of the firing of eight U.S. federal attorneys.

He spoke back in May at Harvard's Berkman Centre for Internet and Society. Here's the YouTube version of the full speech:

From the Nation (May 16):

As traditional journalism breaks apart, a new form of open, interactive, networked and, most importantly, iterative reporting is thriving online.

TPM is powered by an energetic band of readers and activists who participate in gathering news. Marshall calls it "intimacy" -- a collaboration between writers and readers -- and it clearly drives research, traffic and stickiness. In complex, long-term stories like the U.S. attorney scandal and the fight over privatizing social security, TPM tapped readers to gather information, interview congressional staff and upload evolving political intelligence. While readers may be motivated by policy or political goals, their work product can still be objective information. For social security, Marshall said readers built a better virtual list of politicians' stances than anything tabulated by the traditional media or the White House.

Open reporting can also diversify and democratize the sources that reporters use. Journalists come to rely on "professional sources," Marshall explained, both for expertise (they know something) and convenience (they know how to deal with the press and speak in quotes). Interactive media websites can draw on more sources with more niche expertise, even if they don't speak in quotes. So why should non-media people care?