It's All Over Now, Baby Blue

Corante (via Instapundit) is saying that The New York Times is afraid of bloggers, downgrading us to “Web Diarists” in their recent headline. If I were the Times, I’d be scared too, because they know the secret. Journalism is not cardiology. It is not really a profession, although there are schools that teach it. [Didn’t you go to the Yale School of Drama in playwriting? Who are you to talk? –ed. That’s the point!]

In fact, bloggers have one advantage over so-called professional journalists. (I think all the distinctions are blurred actually. The blogosphere is filled with people with professional writing careers of various sorts.) Bloggers are not paid by newspapers and are freer to write what they want. Of course, as blog ads increase that freedom may diminish. But for the moment, the NYT et al have good reason to worry. The flow of information is undergoing a revolution that would make McLuhan’s head spin. And considering the general tedium of the Democratic Convention… and doubtless the Republican Convention to come… bloggers will continue to be a major part of the story at both those venues. What else is there to report? Viewership is approaching all time lows. Oh, yes, this.