Blogs v. Media

The mainstream media, feeling the blog dog nipping at their heels, has been slashing back at bloggers lately. A lot of it is shrill and self-serving. Bloggers have slashed back. Slate has provided what we think is a balanced analysis of the blog v. media debate. Link. Excerpt:

What can bloggers do that professional journalists can't? Because bloggers answer to no one, they need not worry if their dispatches cause the chairman of the board of General Motors to stop talking to the publisher--or placing ads. Their independence gives them a subversive strength, one that undermines the cozy relationship the press has with its corporate cousins and government. The unmediated nature of blogs, which frightens so many professional journalists, is really a plus. With so many bloggers writing outside the bounds of authority, they've become impossible to silence or censor, and their provocations help keep the national debate going at full tilt. Too bad constructive recklessness can't be taught.