Comments on others' blogs

I love making comments on blog posts, or on articles posted at various sites around the internet. I post comments on "the BIGs"--Big Hollywood, Big Journalism, and BreitbartTV mostly. I check out other sites now and then: http://www.chrisisright.net/ and http://www.therightscoop.com/, plus FOX, MSNBC; mostly, what I view is conservative, religious, and / or sites that are disparaging the conservative or religious viewpoints I hold dear. One recent example was the "wonkette" fiasco and the subsequent takedown by #TrigsCrew. I would not have visited that site without learning of the atrocities posted there. The advertisers who dropped wonkette as a client need not fear loss of revenue; I never saw their ads before, and am more likely to support those advertisers now than ever.

I once posted a comment on a blog authored by a person I "knew" only from viewing tweets on Twitter. I am not sure that I ever interacted with the author other than through the comments on this blog, though it is possible that I did so and have forgotten. The author of the blog made a statement about a friend,  questioning if my friend was a journalist and perhaps implying that my friend had not written for the Associated Press. My comment was polite and thoughtful, and offered evidence refuting the blog's content. The comment did not remain viewable for long, and eventually the post itself was deleted.

I decided to post my comment here, because I thought it a nice example of persuasive writing (if I do say so myself) and I wanted it to be available for anyone who might want to read it. This comment was posted on or about November 19, 2010. It is given in its entirety, in italics. The only edits I have done to post it here are to

• activate the links and
• place the entire comment in a different color.

The "quotation" you offer: Updated: November 18, 2010

"If she doesn't take down that blog entry, she will be sued for libel. I have a lawyer and I can prove that I worked for the AP as a staff member for 4 years, and I will absolutely sue her."

is almost entirely NOT what I personally posted to the original version of your blog on November 17, 2010, at approximately 2:18 PM EST.

However, that's not today's topic. Today I'd like to discuss "freelance writer" not 'journalist'. If you would like to agree that working for the Associated Press (www.ap.org) and publishing written work on a variety of topics, in a variety of publications, over a period of time, qualifies one as a 'journalist', then we will be in agreement.

Here are some additional "sources" for you. Each identifies Heidi Russell in the byline along with her employer "Associated Press." Several different publications, variety of topics, period of time: these sources demonstrate that Heidi Russell, now Heidi Russell Rafferty, meets those qualifications.

http://articles.latimes.com/1998/aug/13/business/fi-12715

http://articles.latimes.com/1998/oct/04/news/mn-29119

http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-19555592.html

http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-19726177.html

http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-19533951.html

http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-23419119.html

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4182/is_19960925/ai_n10094333/?tag=content;col1

I suppose that once one no longer works for AP, one might do freelance writing. That does not disqualify the person as a journalist.

MerriamWebster.com offers this definition of JOURNALIST

1a : a person engaged in journalism; especially : a writer or editor for a news medium 1b : a writer who aims at a mass audience

Gee, I guess any of us with works published in "news medium" or a substantial number of followers as a "mass audience" on Twitter qualify as journalists.

Can I prove 100% beyond a shadow of a doubt that the journalist Heidi who aims at a mass audience on Twitter and at http://christiansafehouse.blogspot.com/ is the same journalist Heidi who wrote all those AP articles? Of course I cannot.

I'm not Heidi. If you'd like to meet me, come find me @bteacher99 on Twitter.

I will close with this:

As I said, I cannot prove that these articles belong to my friend. However, she says (in many places) that she once wrote for AP, and I believe her. She has earned my trust, and I have faith in her. Do I know all the words and ideas that Heidi has exchanged with you or anyone in the "BratPack"? Of course not; remember, I'm not Heidi. I'm her friend. I have faith in her, and I believe absolutely that she is who she claims to be.

This will be crossposted to @bteacher99's twitter feed about 15 minutes from now. Hopefully that will provide any readers with some proof of my identity.

I have a screenshot available of the posting I made to the original blog. I have covered in black part of the url where the blog was posted, part of the name of the blogpost and the nickname of the author. I do not wish to cause trouble for the author of the post to which I responded. I just wanted to be certain that evidence of my original comment was available for any who would wish to read it.