I’M A PRETTY MELLOW GUY, which means that I found a recent preachy screed by the CJR campaign blog trivial, and didn’t bother to try to refute it. I generally like the blog, and jumping on other bloggers isn’t usually my thing. But if I had tried, I probably wouldn’t have done as good a job as Jay Rosen has done.

I’ve been pretty critical of the “ethics establishment,” and the way in which its pronouncements tend to be rather transparent shields for self-interest. The journalistic ethics establishment certainly falls into this category. Ethics are important. Ethics authorities, however, usually aren’t.

But in one sense I think that Jay misses the important transitional role the CJR blog is playing. Many among the more hidebound segments of the press are scared of blogs, or ignorant of them. Institutional blogs like CJR’s will help to introduce them to the blogosphere. Wonkette can come later.

Kinda like starting with Pat Boone, and ending up with Elvis.