When I, and several others, received press credentials from the Democrats to blog from their national convention this summer, many people complained that we weren’t real journalists. That is true. I have not been to J school. Nor do I make any pretense at being a journalist. I tend to think of myself as more of an activist and an op-ed writer.

That said, I have a great respect for the profession of journalism, and I believe that bloggers can learn a lot from journalists. Today, I received a call from a friend who is a retired investigative reporter. She believes that given the current economics of the news industry an insufficient amount of investigative reporting is being done. She would like to see some sort of grassroots fund to support investigative reporting.