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Do you read blogs? Tell us if blogs change your views on political issues.

Submissions for this question are no longer being accepted. Previously submitted comments appear below. Comments may have been edited for content or space.

Poster: o d ludyeh
Comment: I just started to read blogs to garner critical info the unconscionable mainstream media fails utterly to report. I expect to read many types of blogs - liberal and conservative, Republican and Democrat and others - to decipher the facts I need to decide about important issues.

Poster: Gary Hammond
Comment: Yesterday I listed a number of websites and news and opinion sources that will be influential if enough people can /will access them. To that list I'd like to add another that I hit daily, Counterpunch.

Poster: Bonnie Crosser
Comment: I am new to the blogging world, and am enjoying it tremendously. It's the epitome of a democratic medium. Most of the main liberal blogs are popular because they have proven to be credible and are somewhat self-policing. I think the web adds an additional bonus in that you can click on a link to go to the original source for a conclusion or comment. Unreliable blogs tend to fall pretty rapidly by the wayside and the cream rises to the top. The 'pajamahadeen' are definitely going to be a force in the comming elections. They organize people who think alike into action groups. Mainly, they are an exceptional alternative to the MSM who seems to either stand in line for the daily talking points handout, or go off on a celebrity goose chase that seems so frivilous in the face of the issues the nation is dealing with. Blogs focus on the topics that we want to discuss and aren't compromised by corporate policy. It's the 'free market' of ideas. Purely a 'bottom up' operation. Anyone can post, and the best ideas (by popular vote) are bumped up to the front page. If you haven't gone yet, give it a try ~ I'll bet you come back for more. Two faves mentioned in the show are Arianna Huffington's www.huffingtonpost.com and www.dailykos.com An added feature is that they have links to other blogs so you can see samples of other blogs---right wing ones included. Come and join us!

Poster: Richard Chapman
Comment: Bloggers are as important to our continuing revolution against oppressive forces as they were so proudly and importantly as pamphleteers in the founding of our country.

Poster: Stacey Carpio
Comment: Yes I read blogs, I read the LA Times, BBC America, listen to Air America and NPR. Blogs provide information that is not readily available on the MSM. I have learned far more about the candidates for the upcoming election than I would have ever gotten from local or national media outlets. Additionally, sites like Daily Kos really motivate voters who have felt disenfranchised in the past.

Poster: Gary Hammond
Comment: I obtain a lot of info from Democracy Now, ZNet, Common Dreams, TomPaine, Air America, & of course, NOW.

Poster: Chuck Porter
Comment: I have never read a blog yet. Might if you would explain to many of us how to get into the blog system.

Poster: paul huggup
Comment: never logged on to a blog. heard a lot about them from TV mostly PBS & c-span. I wonder how trust worthy can they be?

Poster: Sarah J. Polk
Comment: I think blogs are a very hopeful sign for our democracy. I am increasingly worried that many basic rights are slipping away from us through fear of terrorism. Our MSM tends to be very cautious and tends to try to present two sides even when it seems to me one side is pure propoganda. It's hopeful to have information that money doesn't control. Thanks to NOW we will explore the world of blogs.

Poster: Audrey in Missouri
Comment: I read as many liberal blogs as I can find time for, and I get a lot of news from them! Some news gets to the mainstream media 2 or 3 days later than on the blogs! I am anxious each day for someone to uncover more of the terrible mis-management of US foreign policy and domestic problems perpetrated by this horrible administration, so that we citizens can vote out the whole bunch of GOP traitors to our freedom-loving country and our American way of life!

Poster: Faith Carr
Comment: Too busy blogging, and organizing the local October 5th World Can't Wait Day of Mass Resistance. Sorry, gotta goooooo. F.

Poster: dkmich
Comment: Have blogged on DailyKos since 2003. The internet and the blogs have finally given middle America a voice. Where else could we stage a revolt in our pajamas. Netroots!!

Poster: alvah macwilliam
Comment: Where ever we turn for information we should consider carefully and objectively its source. It is not so hard to find information that will support our own positions but we need to also study views that run counter to our own if truth is the real goal.

Poster: Bill Lawrence
Comment: My views were formed many years ago and my understanding of current issues is based upon what I know to be true. I enjoy reading blogs because the media in the U.S. is spineless, profit oriented and, in many cases, takes a right wing stance. I also enjoy reading the foreign newspapers on line to get a more worldly view.

Poster: claire Fairchild
Comment: Yes, but they don't influence me. I just like to see what other people are thinking.

Poster: Marilyn Garis
Comment: Yes, because the mainstream media is so controlled by the administration. I have not watched NBC in three years.

Poster: Dat Ly Nguyen
Comment: I have never log on to any blog sites, but I keep on hearing about it. I have several questions about them. How reliable are they? How can we be sure that what they are stating on the webpage is accurate and researched versus a rumor? And finally, the fact that NPR and maybe to a much lesser degree PBS are quoting them, it makes wonder: have you research their statements and how can you feel comfortable with these statements. Thank you

Poster: Clare
Comment: Yes, I read the blogs but only to get the most up to date info on candidates I'm watching this year. I tend to read only those blogs that I agree with so my mind is rarely changed by them.

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Poster: cynthia wedding
Comment: Blogs do not change my views on issues but I try to get as much info as possible. Thank you for NOW--best show on TV--please keep up the wonderful, professional work!!!

Poster: Ariel Herman
Comment: I do read blogs, they do not necessarily change my views but in many cases they increase my knowledge about the subject. Although some blogs I have read seem to have no truth to them.

Poster: Edward Pepe
Comment: It's not that I believe or agree with everything I read written by bloggers. But I do read blogs because I feel that the mainstream media is not reliable. The worst of it is blatantly trying to obfuscate, while the rest is afraid to report on many issues of importance.

Poster: Mary Fitzpatrick Moore
Comment: I read blogs to obtain information NOT COVERED by the media! This is AlSO why I faithfully watch NOW----How about expanding this excellent program to at least 1 hour! THANK you for NOW!!!!!

Poster: Jeanne Thatcher
Comment: I don't have time to read most blogs.

Poster: Debbie Boen
Comment: Until NOW, I feel that the facts have only been found on the internet blogs. Mainstream media has been a major distraction to knowing the truth. Michael Moore blog, bradblog, Independent Media and so many others have been my news. It's all about real issues and real reporting. I've never been so thirsty for the truth, as awful as it may be.

Poster: John
Comment: No, I don't read blogs. No, blogs don't change my views because I don't read them. Next question please. Note: If you want the right answers, you must first ask the rigt questions...otherwise you will continue to get poor quality answers, like the answers above.

Poster: Janet White
Comment: No, I don't read blogs. I prefer to get my news and editorials from reputable publications like the LA Times and The CS Monitor.

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Poster: Businessman
Comment: I have not read anything in a blog that would cause me to change my vote, but they can be informative and are far less controlled for content than the news media.

Poster: Honora Finney
Comment: I enjoy reading blogs when I have time, they do consume a lot of time reading them. They do not change my views but they do give me another point of view and I learn things I did not know about particular subjects. I enjoy blogs.

Poster: Marian Steiskal
Comment: I do read blogs! By reading enough of them, I feel I'm able to discerne the difference between the Real News, and the stuff that's allowed on the news stations and papers. After all, the papers and TV news are also motivated to keep their advertisers, and to keep the government happy, plus some have their own agenda or political slant.

Poster: Jane Glover
Comment: I read blogs, watch NOW, BBC World News, BBC Newsnight and would be watching Al Jazeera had PBS not removed it from its schedule.

Poster: David T. Gray
Comment: No, I don't read them I get plenty of newsletters, but blogs don't make any sense to me. They are just rambling dialogues, some worth the trouble and some not.

Poster: John in Oregon
Comment: I do read blogs, but they don't change my views on political issues. The signal to noise ratio is pretty low, so as in most things internet I sift through the creek bed to find the occasional nugget. I do find them a good first alarm for breaking news in the political arena, which I can then follow or investigate further. I've yet to have my views changed by a blog, but they have aided in expanding my view or adding nuance to a given topic or issue. I find for the most part the vast majority of posters on blogs are in love with their own words, with absolutely no corroborating evidence to indicate that thay should be (self included).

Poster: Pat Williams
Comment: Somewhat. It's more a matter of expanding my views rather than totally changing them. There is much food for thought and skepticism on blogs.

Poster: Florence Vincent
Comment: I read blogs, but mostly alternative websites & TV for my information. Media Matters, Huffington Post, Air America, Keith Olberman, Amy Goodman and NOW.

Poster: Marjorie Monteleon
Comment: I do not read Blogs. I prefer instead to read things from authoritative resources, that have facts, not just opinions.

Poster: Marjorie Monteleon
Comment: I do not read Blogs. I prefer instead to read things from authoritative resources, that have facts, not just opinions.

Poster: Dr. Ronald G. Ribble
Comment: I read a select group of blogs which--more often than not--seem to have a grip on facts. It was a combination of blogs and mainstream news that made it clear to me--before the invasion--that the administration's reasons for invading Iraq were either bad intelligence or fabrications. I also first found information about taking prisoners to unnamed countries for interrogation from an authoritative blog and correctly deduced the identity of two of those countries. Bloggers definitely operate without concerning themselves with the profit motive but one should be careful about whom to believe Dr. Ronald G. Ribble London Diplomatic Academy [Blogger]

Poster: Anna Boyle Daniher
Comment: Bloggers don't change my views, they serve to expand and elaborate on existing information. Reading our news on Iraq is all well and good but the People who are there create a dimension that can't be provided any other way. This applies to almost all situations. I like to go to the source.

Poster: Susan Miller
Comment: I sometimes read blogs but they rarely change my opinions. It is satisfying, however, to see a writer express my opinions better than I could and add supportive facts I hadn't known. Occasionally a well researched and thoughtfully worded blog entry can change my stand on something I haven't yet given much thought to.

Poster: NOW Editor
Comment: NOW editors will select some of your feedback to appear on this page. Comments may be edited for space.