Who's Steven Levy?

When I saw the link on Instapundit to a Buzz MAchine post about a Newsweek column by Steven Levy, I asked myself “Who’s Steven Levy?” Then I read his dull column and, to be frank, I didn’t care.

Well, my point is not to attack Levy (okay, in some way it is), but to underline how the fuddy duddies of the legacy media are now beginning to embarrass themselves. Mr. Levy (I don’t read Newsweek anymore, so he’s not the only Newsweek columnist whose name means nothing to me) goes on about diversity in the blogosphere as if there were some kind of conspiracy to keep out people of color and women. Never mind that the blogosphere (as Jarvis points out) is many times more diverse and international than all the American news magazines combined and probably quintupled, I have a proposal for Mr. Levy. Try blogging yourself. As one who has spent decades in mainstream media (assuming you consider Simon & Schuster, Universal Studios, etc. the mainstream), I have news for Levy. Blogging is a rude awakening. It’s tougher in many ways than the mainstream media because people can just tune you out with the click of a mouse. There are a fair number of “pros” whose blogs are largely ignored while “amateurs” come from out of nowhere to command our attention. There are no gatekeepers, Mr. Levy. That’s what scares you. Own up. Or should I say blog up or shut up?