By Matt for the TIB Network:
Radley Balko has a piece up at FOX News about blogs, their biases, and other such blah, blah, blah. On first glance, it looks like yet another Old Media hit piece, but the substance of the article is actually fairly accurate.Here is a guy who actually has a blog and is not afraid to take the criticism of the blogosphere for what he has written. In fact, I think he's digging being dissed by his blogging bretheren, but don't hold me to that...
One of the points that Balko makes that I think is really important is that it isn't just the politicans that don't know what blogs and blogging are all about, it's the bloggers themselves too.
It's an amusing story, but the more I read about the weblogging phenomenon from traditional media sources — the more I hear about it from talk show hosts and pundits, and the more triumphalism, tribalism, and group hurt we're starting to see from the "blogosphere" — the more I'm convinced that even "hip" reporters and tech-savvy bloggers themselves don't really "get" blogs any more than those senior Republican senators do.Blogging means something different for every blogger. And we should embrace that. It is that diversity that makes the blogosphere so great.
I'll agree with Balko that the blogs aren't any different from radio, print media, cable television, or the rest of the World Wide Web. We provide information to a group of customers just like they do. What makes our medium different is both our stregth and our weakness: we're quick and we don't have editors. Balko doesn't mention the fact that the blogosphere polices itself though. You can't just say whatever crazy thing you want without supporting documentation and/or evidence. Your blog will die if you get a reputation for doing such things.
It was an interesting piece. I recommend it to those lurkers who don't quite "get" the blogosphere. And Balko's blog, The Agitator, was a pretty interesting read as well.
