September 05, 2003

WAIT TILL THEY FIND OUT HE DOESN'T HAVE A DEGREE

Killer article on blogging by Matt Welch. Or, since he’s now being published in the snooty Columbia Journalism Review, Matthew Kensington Welch III.

Posted by Tim Blair at September 5, 2003 12:03 AM
Comments

Yeah, great article. But I think he missed an important point. The Blogosphere is big on comment, specialty analysis and the occasional eye-witness report. It's still going to need the wire services, the reporters who actually go out and nail down the events of the day.

My passionate hope is that it will spell the end of rich rewards for appointed demagogues like Adams, Mackay (Jones and Laws can at least claim market vindication) whose major contribution these days appears to be providing targets for the bloggers. Call it the democratisation, and, better yet, the free market rationalisation of the marketplace of ideas.

If people can find topical, intelligent commentary for free, then newspaper editors, and Their ABC, are going to have to think carefully about the ideas being peddled by their contractors. To wit, are they good enough that people will pay to read them (or, in the ABC's case, why pay an Adams when they can get Quiggin or Dunlop).

I think we'll see some big developments over the next few years, and the news is not good for the old media.

Posted by: Al B. at September 5, 2003 at 11:26 AM

What happens when Adams and Mackay start blogging?

Posted by: pooh at September 5, 2003 at 12:19 PM