Jedi Journalism

A "Jedi Journalist" doesn't dig for the facts. He knows them, with his mind.

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05/22/2010 10:22 PM CST

(STARpod.org) -- In the beginning, human beings created the Internet, and it was looking pretty good.

But the Internet was mostly dull and boring, without compelling content.

And the powers that be, seeing the emptiness, said to mankind, "Go forth and fill the web with information: every conceivable thought, good and evil, and images, and video, and make every desire within your heart known, for all of the world to see."

And so, by the early 21st Century, it was accomplished.

A the touch of a keyboard, every thought and idea, both great and small, could reach a potential audience in the millions.

The unwashed masses tapped forth their collective consciousness into the virtual and eternal memory of the web.

Vast social networks bubbled into existence.

Ordinary citizens, seizing new opportunities, took on extraordinary responsibilities: reporting on serious topics that had been firmly under the control of professional media.

So began the age of citizen journalism.

And it was, well, mostly good.

The "powers that be" looked down upon the sticky new web, which had spread to the farthest corners of the globe.

And the governments of the world declared, "Let our intelligence operatives go forth upon this Internet, that they may collect intelligence from the far corners of the world; and furthermore, let them plant the seeds of counterintelligence that their words may thwart our enemies."

And it was, quite frankly, not always so good.

Soon, "rogue journalists," unbound from the shackles of editorial control and rules of proper sourcing, engaged with "forum operatives" and "spooky three-letter agents of opportunity."

It was, at the very least, something interesting to write about.

Many were caught up in their own words, surprised by the lack of ethics and aggressive reporting of the citizen unbound.

Among the citizen journalists, a few understood their newfound powers and realized that, yes, there are good reasons behind sourcing rules and ethical journalism.

As if all of this was not enough, from the deeper depths of the collective unconscious, a new word-warrior emerged, ready to wage a virtual psychic battle.

Out of the shadows of thoughts, words, and deeds, the blending of "active imagination" with sourced hard information unleashed the Jedi Journalist.

I have coined the term "Jedi Journalism" to represent the fusion of psychically derived intelligence with conventional sources.

Essentially, the idea is to borrow from the US government's psychic spy era, knowing that the government acknowledged an anomaly, even as they realized to their disappointment that psychic information is not "actionable."

A Jedi Journalist may begin with clues or hints from a psychic source, and then pursue those leads towards uncovering the "ground truth" of actual events that are in play.

Other times, a Jedi Journalist may be investigating conventional leads to a story, and require additional "anomalous" input to move the investigation further on.

As with all good journalism, professional or otherwise, citing sources to the reader is essential.

Under the rules of Jedi Journalism, the reporter must identify sources.

For example, if a story involves clues provided by a psychic using "anomalous mental phenomena" (I prefer "active imagination"), those clues must be clearly identified in the article as coming from a psychic source. Ideally, any psychically derived input into a story will be reinforced by information provided by knowledgeable real sources.

STARpod.org recently reported about a biological terror threat associated with the Christmas Day plot to blow up Flight 253 over Detroit.

A psychic source suggested the FBI was concerned about threats involving the release of biological warfare agents aboard planes. Checking with real sources, it was discovered that President Obama has issued an Executive Order about American response to a biological attack, and the connection to the Christmas Day plot was acknowledged by someone in  position to know, under grounds of anonymity.

Clearly, this is far from the ideal situation typically desired in journalism, however, the possible connection of a new biological threat to recent terrorist attempts was also confirmed by an Israeli intelligence company, based upon Internet chatter.

It is the standing policy of STARpod.org to identify all psychically derived intelligence, so that the reader may determine in their own mind the validity or otherwise of the information we provide.

This on-going experiment in reporting is aimed at predicting tomorrow's news, not just reporting it to you.

For more information, please visit STARpod.org.

Copyright (c) 2010 by STARstream Research / STARpod.org -- All rights reserved.

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