Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Strength in Numbers
Scrolling through the class blogs, I came across a particularly trenchant blog entry by The New England Patriot. He claims that someday soon the master bloggers of the Net will join the ranks of mainstream Media, trading in their independence for greater visibility and credibility in an otherwise chaotic environment.
My hope is that this never comes to pass. Blogs of all sizes and influence draw their strength from the democratic outpouring of millions of wired people. A blog is only as good as the comments that accompany it. Notwithstanding the growing presence of trolls, pesky miscreants that disrupt online discourse with non-constructive input, participation is a key ingredient to a blog's success. If certain blogs ever attained MSM status, the blogging community as a whole will shrink. Why start a blog if people are going to read the DailyKos anyway?
I can empathize with the effort to establish trust and journalistic integrity on the Net. But I am cautious to endorse any policy or course of events that will subject the Net to the same hierarchical structures as found on the radio and television. To me, this short-term gain cannot outweigh the inevitable chill it will place on creative blogging. Lets keep growing, even at the expense of some journalistic integrity.
Scrolling through the class blogs, I came across a particularly trenchant blog entry by The New England Patriot. He claims that someday soon the master bloggers of the Net will join the ranks of mainstream Media, trading in their independence for greater visibility and credibility in an otherwise chaotic environment.
My hope is that this never comes to pass. Blogs of all sizes and influence draw their strength from the democratic outpouring of millions of wired people. A blog is only as good as the comments that accompany it. Notwithstanding the growing presence of trolls, pesky miscreants that disrupt online discourse with non-constructive input, participation is a key ingredient to a blog's success. If certain blogs ever attained MSM status, the blogging community as a whole will shrink. Why start a blog if people are going to read the DailyKos anyway?
I can empathize with the effort to establish trust and journalistic integrity on the Net. But I am cautious to endorse any policy or course of events that will subject the Net to the same hierarchical structures as found on the radio and television. To me, this short-term gain cannot outweigh the inevitable chill it will place on creative blogging. Lets keep growing, even at the expense of some journalistic integrity.
# posted by Jonathan Noble @ 11:18 PM 
Comments:
<< Home
Jon, I share your concern and would rue the day when blogging becomes part of MSM, but unfortunately I think it's inevitable. The internet will be bought up by our big conglomerations just like they've bought up the rest of the media. And even if that's prevented, the internet will eventually become a mainstream form of media just like cable news did. Whether that alters blogging negatively remains to be seen. But the point is that I think we WILL see MSM and NM merge somewhat.
This has been a thoughful exchange, inclusing NEP's original plost. But I do wonder if "inevitable" is the right word here. Is there nothing that could prevent this?
Post a Comment
<< Home
