It’s been 10 years since the blog was born. Love them or hate them, they’ve roiled presidential campaigns and given everyman a global soapbox. Twelve commentators — including Tom Wolfe, Newt Gingrich, the SEC’s Christopher Cox and actress-turned-blogger Mia Farrow — on what blogs mean to them. WSJ
I only wish there were names and niches for web logs and web loggers who make no pretense to be journalists in the “political opinion” definition of the term. Punditry seems to have become identical in the minds of the media with the medium of blogging, while the realm is much richer than that.
But some have thrown the baby out with the bath water. And until we develop a taxonomy of blogs into family, class and order, if you’ve seen one you’ve seen them all. They’re black. They’re white.
When in fact, there’s a rainbow of variation out there, and while not all bloggers are journalists, many are writers, photographers, anthropologists of the hyperlocal and generally interesting folks whose pages are worth reading.
At least I’d like to think so. What do you think? Are blogs just so much hot air, just another fad and bubble gum for the typing fingers and egos of EveryMan (and Woman)?
i don’t think blogs are going anywhere any time soon. i, personally, am uplifted and inspired on a regular basis from my “regular” stopovers. not one of them include political bloggers. the ones i enjoy the most are the everyday folks writing about their communities and their lives.
Blogs give people a voice. It’s reminiscent of the days of Tom Paine and the early printing press. Power to the people, I say.