Inchoate rambling ahead
It goes without saying that if an idiot writes a weblog, then you get idiocy in a weblog. [Scripting News]
Which explains this place nicely. ;)
Seriously though, Dave is addressing the issue of journalism vs blogs. What surprises me is that this is an issue. The issue is professionals vs amateurs, but it's more than that really. Quality is an issue, to be sure, so is fact checking. What I find amusing are the people who believe in democracy who dismiss blogs. Blogs are inherently democratic. Your exposure is equal to your influence which is equal to the the quality of what you write and it's ability to draw people in.
The issue here is not the prestige of publishing under the masthead of some long standing corporation though, it is a matter of who you can get to read what you have to say. A blogger doesn't need the aforementioned masthead to get popular, and our popularity is measured in hits, not letters to the editor, nor in the number of papers that we appear in daily. Unlike someone who writes exclusively for print, we have the hard numbers (should we want to see them) of how many people are reading what we have to say, and have said (thanks to the archives that are up.)
I think that some pro journalists are pissed that the for those that are interested, the writers control the means of production. No editors, no committees, just the writer and the audience, live and without a net. No paying of dues, no working a beat, all those years of sacrifice and hard work down the drain. Others have said it better, but we are in an informational revolution, with free long distance on our cell phones, and rapidly approaching universal access to the web in first world countries that so desire it. Soon we won't need pros telling us what happened, we'll have live feeds streamed from tourists around the world, shooting their video and stills to friends and family and sending it from the local 7-11 WAP for $5.00 an hour of access.
Peercasted programing shot on a mini DV cam, edited on your Mac and out for everyone to see all in a weekend. Like any media, it's going to be raw and bad for a long time before it gets good, but the skills of video production are being taught in high schools and middle schools across the nation. Lego has a director set complete with a camera for kids to start getting the hang of this. Text blogs are just the start, video is next. Accelerating broadband in established markets, combined with the threat of neighborhood WiFi is going to drop the price of admission for those that want in.
Interesting times my friends. So strap in, sit back and hang on, it's going to bumpy and fun and disturbing and wild. I can't wait.
3:24:54 PM 
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