Will the Blogs Kill Old Media?
One blog avatar has formally wagered that by 2007, more readers will get their news from blogs than from The New York Times
A year ago, Glenn Reynolds hardly qualified as plankton on the punditry food chain. The 41-year-old law professor at the University of Tennessee would pen the occasional op-ed for the L.A. Times, but his name was unfamiliar to even the most fanatical news junkie. All that began to change on Aug. 5 of last year, when Reynolds acquired the software to create a ?Weblog,? or ?blog.? A blog is an easily updated Web site that works as an online daybook, consisting of links to interesting items on the Web, spur-of-the-moment observations and real-time reports on whatever captures the blogger?s attention. Reynolds?s original goal was to post witty observations on news events, but after September 11, he began providing links to fascinating articles and accounts of the crisis, and soon his site, called InstaPundit, drew thousands of readers?and kept growing. He now gets more than 70,000 page views a day (he figures this means 23,000 real people). Working at his two-year-old $400 computer, he posts dozens of items and links a day, and answers hundreds of e-mails. PR flacks call him to cadge coverage. And he?s living a pundit?s dream by being frequently cited?not just by fellow bloggers, but by media bigfeet. He?s blogged his way into the game.
Ahhh…. Irresponsible media hype. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say mainstream media’s attempting to create a hostile environment towards blogging. And for no reason. Think about it, blogs are nice and all and a good way to find opinions, but that’s about it. They’re opinions. Think of them as massive op-ed pages. Some of them, like Instapundit and what not, will post a few different opinions and link to news that supports those and their opinions. But it’s still opinion, heavily slanted, and in no way a replacement for the regular media.
And I think most people realize this. And, anyone that doesn’t and takes what these people say as facts, well, they’re already doing that elsewhere, mainstream media has already lost them.
Blogs will not “kill” old media, but they will effect it. I think you’ll see more and more journalists and columnists getting online and blogging. Maybe some breaking news will take on a more blogging feel where the correspondant in the field can quickly update and let the world know what’s going on in real time without the need for streaming video or audio. But “kill”? Radio was supposed to “kill” old media. Television was supposed to “kill” old media. The Internet’s been “killing” old media for almost 10 years now. But they haven’t succeeded in this, they’ve been assimilated and utilized.
Old media doesn’t die, it evolves.
Blogs take Web diaries to the next level
Ever frog blog — or contemplate blogging your dog? Or how about blogging over that 1967 mustang? Blogs are journalism’s latest craze. The odd little word is short for “Web logs.” They first appeared around 1998, and are starting to take off among people searching for information online. You can find a blog on just about any topic imaginable, and this week, Bruce Burkhardt speaks to a self-proclaimed blogger. Josh Quittner, editor of Business 2.0, tells Bruce Burkhardt why he thinks blogs are journalism for the future.
Got Blog?
Instant online journals are a hot trend
Web logs, or blogs, are one of the hottest trends on the Internet, allowing people to instantly post their thoughts or links to whatever catches their fancy.
New technologies are giving more people a way to quickly set up their online soapboxes. Instead of needing extensive programming knowledge, computer users now can choose from several Internet-based services to open a site and keep their journal.
Blogs are arranged chronologically, like a diary, with short messages, pictures, links or essays.
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