Blogs — The End Of Civilization?

Every so often I hit the Talking Points Memo. This morning they have a link to an LA Times article about the evolution of TPM and blogging. You should check it out. Some notable excerpts:

The bloggers used the usual tools of good journalists everywhere … determination, insight, ingenuity … plus a powerful new force that was not available to reporters until blogging came along: the ability to communicate almost instantaneously with readers via the Internet and to deputize those readers as editorial researchers, in effect multiplying the reporting power by an order of magnitude.

BLOGGING has famously unleashed the opinions of multitudes. There are, by very rough count, 60 million bloggers around the world today. Some projections have that number nearly doubling again this year. Depending on which side of a vitriolic divide you fall – that is, whether you think this is good or bad – this represents either the end of civilization or the rise of true democracy.

This professionalization of the blogosphere has been abetted by mainstream media’s increasing practice of hiring independent bloggers or deploying staffers to blog duty. No one in the blogosphere seems particularly worried about the competition.

Copeland, for one, doubts that the MSM will be able to stem the blogging tide, or even swim very far in it.

“We’re big believers that the Internet’s rule is ‘the outside is the new inside.’ That means that bloggers, with low overheads and nimble structures, can outmaneuver everyone else.”

Interesting analysis to say the least.

And I’m going to take this opportunity to once again encourage the Argus Press to start a group blog. It encourages interactivity with the site, it builds loyalty among readers, and it will increase advertising space & page views.