Posted on 08/23/2004 1:48:27 AM PDT by AdmSmith
They might be able to fix that if they learn how to integrate broadcasts with blogging. I think it requires a subscription model where the media isn't free and the subscribers get to participate if they pay. It might also require an end to anonymity. Also, I don't think we should be too surprised if blogs like FR unleash their own news satellite channels one day.
I like you already, a MN burber, freeper and you don't use that tiny font that some bloggers expect us to read. I will check back. Would love to hear more about how the "dream team" trivia "really" went. Did Lileks bring the wife, who was watching Gnat?
I personally have proved the above principle many times right here in this forum. One of the reasons I didn't become a writer is that too much like real work. Unless you're a journalist, of course, in which case you can just write whatever you think will sell, and support the (Democratic) party line.
In the beginning - let's say since 1990's - the "blogging" phenom was little more than the oftentimes nutty, eccentric, sometimes inspired writing of online diaries.
These days, sex blogs, tech blogs, drug blogs and teenage blogs have literally popped up out of nowhere.
But what really interets me--is there are now news blogs and political commentary blogs (like mine), sites packed with quips, ideas and arguments, that only months ago were the near-monopoly of established news outlets. Positioned critically now between media, blogs are sometimes just as nuanced and well-sourced as traditional journalism, but they have the immediacy of talk radio. Amidst all of this, this much is clear: The phenomenon is real. Blogging is changing the media world and could, IMHO, mean a revolution in how journalism functions in our culture.
Blogs do two things that Web magazines can't. First off, blogs are very personal. The personality of the writer permeates the pieces written. This intimate personal touch is much more in tune with what's happening today than were the opinionated magazines and newspapers of yesteryear. Readers increasingly doubt the authority or even the "truth" printed within the pages of The Washington Post or the National Review, despite their catchy titles and large staffs of employees. They know that behind the curtain are writers and editors who are no more trustworthy than a lone blogger who has earned a reader's respect.
The second thing blogs do is - alter the means of production. Hmmm. How to explain. It's hard to estimate what a huge deal this is. Because, for as long as journalism has existed, writers have had only one route to get to the readers: They needed an editor and a publisher. Even in the most benign scenario, this process subtly distorts journalism. You find yourself almost unconsciously writing to please certain people - the editors are looking for a certain kind of story, the publishers are seeking to push a particular venture or idea, the advertisers influence the editors and owners. Blogging completely bypasses all of this.
Not long ago, I quite literally stumbled across Blogger.com and ended up publishing my daily political musings and finds to a readership of what started out as just a few people. I am a prolific reader, but had nobody to talk with about my discoveries. I found blogging to be an interesting and satisfying release, and I could go back and read it to check my thought processes. Now I'm not even an established writer, but friends and acquaintances have always told me I have a talent for it. I am now joyfully working hard at finding interesting subjects to write about in my blog--it is a labor of love for me. But the upshot is that I'm now reaching more and more readers--quite inadvertently, may I add...and I can see the opportunity, down the road, to look into ways of getting paid for this labor of love. The kind of exposure I'm talking about eventually receiving rivals the audiences of traditional news and opinion magazines.
And I have plenty of company. I can think of two immediate examples. One is Dr. David Yeagley, a Conservative Comanche Indian, and another is Glenn Reynolds, a hyperactive law professor. Yeagley isn't as prolific a blogger as Reynolds, who churns out dozens of posts a day and has quickly become a huge presence in opinion journalism. But my point is-- this is journalism at its finest. Eventually, you can envision a world in which most successful writers will use this medium as a form of self-declared independence.
Think about it for a minute. Why not build an online presence with your daily musings and then sell your first book through print-on-demand technology direct from your Web site? Why on earth should already established writers go to newspapers and magazines to get an essay published, when they can simply write it themselves, convert it into a .pdf file, and charge a few bucks per download? Just as magazine and newspaper editors are slinking off into the sunset, so too might all the agents and editors and publishers in the book market.
This, at least, is the idea: a publishing revolution more profound than anything since the printing press. Blogger could be to words what Napster was to music - except this time, it'll really work. Check back in a couple of years to see whether this is yet another concept that online reality has been able to destroy, or if, in fact, it has completely revolutionized writing.
ping
Thanks. Please do keep checking back. The more the merrier.
Lileks came with the "Crazy Uke," and the "Giant Swede." I assume Mrs. Lileks stayed home with the Gnat, but I didn't ask.
I did chat with him for a few minutes specifically about his writing about his daughter, and how much I liked and appreciated it. Our first child, a son, was born just three months before her. It's neat to see so many parallel experiences as we both stumble through fatherhood.
Next time I'm at an event with him I hope I get to bend his ear a bit longer. But he was a very in-demand guy that night. Very easy to talk to though.
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