Thursday, May 04, 2006
And your point is . . .?
I guess writing about blogs writing about the media is the meta-cool thing to do for CBS News' blog. But this post by Vaughn Ververs on the effect of blog rage struck me as trite, and more than a bit recycled. It begins:
"Is the blogosphere full of citizen journalists who, with a seemingly limitless supply of bandwidth and resources at their fingertips, are becoming a powerful addition to the mainstream media? Or is it in danger of slipping into the 21st Century version of cable talk shows, where those who can shout their outrage the loudest get the most attention?"
Yeah, what about those outraged bloggers? That's fresh territory for comment!
Ververs adds master-of-the-obvious statements about the dreaded blogswarms such as: "But sometimes blogs emit little more than anger and venom. Other times, blog posts are thoughtful, full of research that connect dots."
Finally, the stunning conclusion:
"Like many cable news programs, which seem to crave neat, snappy analysis over nuanced thinking, will blogs be evaluated only on their ability to slice and dice an opposing view rather than the value they could possibly bring to the table? Will blog-rage simply overpower citizen journalism? Just asking."
Here's a heretical thought: maybe blogs will be judged on their individual merit, and not all lumped together as if they were a commodity.
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"Is the blogosphere full of citizen journalists who, with a seemingly limitless supply of bandwidth and resources at their fingertips, are becoming a powerful addition to the mainstream media? Or is it in danger of slipping into the 21st Century version of cable talk shows, where those who can shout their outrage the loudest get the most attention?"
Yeah, what about those outraged bloggers? That's fresh territory for comment!
Ververs adds master-of-the-obvious statements about the dreaded blogswarms such as: "But sometimes blogs emit little more than anger and venom. Other times, blog posts are thoughtful, full of research that connect dots."
Finally, the stunning conclusion:
"Like many cable news programs, which seem to crave neat, snappy analysis over nuanced thinking, will blogs be evaluated only on their ability to slice and dice an opposing view rather than the value they could possibly bring to the table? Will blog-rage simply overpower citizen journalism? Just asking."
Here's a heretical thought: maybe blogs will be judged on their individual merit, and not all lumped together as if they were a commodity.
