Great op-ed about blogging from Peggy Noonan:
The blogosphere isn't some mindless eruption of wild opinion. That isn't their power. This is their power:
1. They use the tools of journalists (computer, keyboard, a spirit of inquiry, a willingness to ask the question) and of the Internet (Google, LexisNexis) to look for and find facts that have been overlooked, ignored or hidden. They look for the telling quote, the ignored statistic, the data that have been submerged. What they are looking for is information that is true. When they get it they post it and include it in the debate. This is a public service.
2. Bloggers, unlike reporters at elite newspapers and magazines, are independent operators. They are not, and do not have to be, governed by mainstream thinking...
3. Bloggers have an institutional advantage in terms of technology and form. They can post immediately...
4. Bloggers are also selling the smartest take on a story. They're selling an original insight, a new area of inquiry...
5. And they're doing it free.
Guess now would be a bad time to mention the Amazon tip jar, eh?
Posted by kswygert at February 17, 2005 11:07 AM