journalists are everywhere....

After living in a bubble of holiday winter bliss for ten days, it was back to work and back at it yesterday. Or course I spent most of my morning catching up on various blogs and newspapers.
While I had briefly heard about the Nigerian who tried to blow up an american plane, I hadn't accumulated any details, so I read a few articles on the subject. I was once again shocked at the poor quality of journalism in the articles I was reading.
It seems to me I must be missing something. Are these people really qualified journalists? Or maybe they are deliberately doing poor research to drum up controversy? 
There was the one fellow who spent his article explaining why the guy didn't really have a bomb, since he was only allowed to carry 100 mls of liquid onto the plane. Such a small amount wasn't enough to blow up the whole plane.
Sheesh, even I don't need to do any research to blow holes in that article (no pun intended). The syringe was sewn into his underwear, that's an undisputed fact. It's not like he passed it to security when asked if he had any liquids.
"Why yes, I have this syringe."
"Oh. Well what's in it? Diabetic insulin?"
"Um, no, it's part two of the explosive bomb I am carrying."
"Oh. Well hang on then."
(Security guy disappears into another room and then returns quickly).
"It's okay, I measured it and it's less than 100 mls. You can board."
Another 'journalist' spent his article bashing Jasper S, the guy who jumped over rows of seats and tackled the Nigerian, burning his hands in the process, but saving all 253 passengers aboard the flight, because afterwards he was paid by a news company for an interview. He only did it for the money, apparently.
Huh? I say, if he was brave enough to act, and act quickly, while everyone else was jumping out of the way, he damn well deserves a reward. Let him make a few bucks from it. No one complained that the pilot who landed the plane in the Hudson river made a fortune from his 'heroic' act. Psssst......come over here......real close....I'll let you in on a little secret.....these two guys have something in common....they were trying to accomplish the same thing...saving their own skins.
See, when a plane falls from the sky, it generally means everyone dies. EVERYONE.
Despite that, these two heroes do have a difference. While the pilot was a good ol' boy, born and raised american, our buddy Jasper was not. That automatically means he is to be scorned, shunned, and poo-pooed (is too a word). Ehem, but that is a blog for another day.
So my question is, do these online newspapers simply hire anyone with a blog? You've written a blog for a year so therefore you have enough experience to be a journalist? That is like saying anyone who kept a diary as a teenager, scribbling by flashlight under the covers about true love and broken hearts and the yummy boy next door dating my ex-best friend, I hate him I hate him I HATE HIM......
Ehem. Sorry about that. Another another-day blog.
Anyway, it's like saying any diarist has the credentials to be a journalist, which is simply not true. I'm not stupid enough to think I am a journalist because I keep a blog or two and dabble in writing a bit. Yet, when you read some of these articles, written in what claim to be reputable newspapers, they seem to have the same dialect as a blogger. Now I have read alot of blogs, you might even call me a blog connoisseur, so I know a blogger when I read one.
If you are going to blog, then blog. Leave journalism to someone else. Please. And journalists, for the love of God, do your research. Please. We're counting on you.