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:: MAX BLACK ::

"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." --C.S. Lewis

"The Swiss pocket knife of conservative thought on the web..." - Eli Kardrakian

"Bookmark Max and dump your subscription to the newspaper; if you don't have a birdcage you really don't need it anyway..." - Shirley St. James

:: Saturday, August 28, 2004 ::

What Just Happened

A newsworthy story, potentially damaging to the Democratic candidate for President was ignored by the main-stream media. The blogosphere, including bloggers Instapundit, Powerline, Hugh Hewitt, JustOneMinute, Belmont Club and many lesser-known blogjockies shoved the story down big-journalism's throat, much as the mother who pinches the nose of her child while forcing foul tasting medicine into its mouth; and big-media was forced to swallow.

Today, Powerline, posts a Mac Owens column that chronicles the whole fine mess--a must read for anyone interested in how new media is changing the landscape of contemporary journalism. Here's the final paragraph:

"John Hinderaker, one of the bloggers behind Powerline, summed up the mood of the blogosphere by comparing journalism with brain surgery: "A bunch of amateurs, no matter how smart and enthusiastic, could never outperform professional neurosurgeons, because they lack the specialized training and experience necessary for that field," he said. "But what qualifications, exactly, does it take to be a journalist? What can they do that we can't? Nothing."

Ironically, rather than leveraging the powerful new research tools at their fingertips--in order to get at some kind of truth--old media cries foul and besmirches those who would use those tools to challenge what old-media perceive's as their private franchise on news and opinion--and they're really miffed about it.

Maybe it's time the blogosphere focuses some of its abundant journalistic energy on the Pulitzer Prize committee--(suppose they've ever heard of Instapundit?)

Related: Tom, over at the Media Drop weighs in on the question of how much influence blogs have on the news cycle; check it out.

:: Max 4:45 PM [+] ::
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