(via Doc Searles) A little off topic, but I think it’s a trend that will continue, and one that will more and more include some type of blogging.
Internet news sources posted the largest relative gain, as 13 percent of those surveyed said they regularly went online for campaign news and another 20 percent saying they did so occasionally. In 2000, only 9 percent said they regularly turned to the Internet. Younger Americans said they relied less on traditional news sources, turning instead to cable news, the Internet and comedy shows such as Saturday Night Live for campaign news.
Not great news about the last part, but I can’t help but think this trend will continue.
More important is this essay: News Is A Conversation. I absolutely love this part:
It is this power and influence that drives mainstream journalists to look at new media types, especially bloggers, and describe them pejoratively as the “vanity press,” “self-important,” or worse. The question, of course, is if bloggers derive their sense of importance from themselves, then from whom does the mainstream press derive theirs? You see, there exists within journalism today a belief that this power and influence of theirs is a right, a guarantee given to them by some higher authority, and therein lies the rub. This belief is further enhanced now that certain, very well paid journalists find themselves on the same societal and cultural levels as those about whom they report. This is treasonous, for the roots of journalism are fed by the blood of those who gave their lives for the free flow of information.
This is not only why the mainstream media doesn’t get it yet, it’s why they don’t want to get it. If Howard Dean is successful in his presidential bid, it will really shake things up.
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