Somewhat related to Dave Schuler’s recent piece on the New York Times is this excellent piece by journalism professor Jay Rosen: Audience Atomization Overcome: Why the Internet Weakens the Authority of the Press.
I think it’s probably the best explanation of what the blogosphere has really accomplished in the last few years that I’ve read yet.
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Correct me if I’m wrong, but the author of this piece is clearly left-leaning, and seems to miss the fact that, by-in-large, the impact of the blogosphere on the MSM is from the right to one degree or another.
For example, this very blog: Dean’s World. Compared to the MSM, Dean’s World is right-leaning, even if Dean protests the label.
I dunno… it just seems to me the author seems to think the impact of the blogosphere is coming from one side of the political spectrum when, in my experience, it’s coming from the other.
But, hey, I can admit that maybe I’m speaking from my own bias…
The leftish blogosphere kicked into high gear right around 2003-2004, and were a major influence on the party and on the press. Daily Kos and Huffington Post were arguably extremely influential on the press and major drivers of the press’s attitude toward the Bush administration.
Oh, I should add, the fact that I found their influence sickening and disheartening doesn’t change their obvious impact. I’d been aching for a sensible rational and decent-minded left, and these are the folks we got instead. So it goes, I’m philosophical about it now. It’s just how politics works. We got Glenn Greenwald, Markos, Ariana Huffington, Atrios, and that lot. Oh well. No getting around it. The fact that I despise their brand of politics as much as I deplore the far right’s brand of politics may make me a "right winger" in some eyes, but if so, well, there are an awful lot of right wingers who aren’t exactly happy to have me in their camp either. So it goes.
I like you in my camp, Dean. You bring marshmallows.
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