The journalism of blogging.

N.Z. Bear has a interesting article at Tech Central about bloggers and journalism. He ends the article with this:

"To the die-hard old-media types who sneer at "blogging as typing" and bloggers as pajama-clad losers, then, we can quite simply say: laugh while you can. Time is not your friend, because before long, people like us will have your jobs -- and people like you will be a fading memory, shuffled away to the same journalistic dustbin as and black-and-white photos on the front page of the Times."

Hat tip to The Asylum who also has his take on the blogging world.

I have been reading alot about bloggers in general and I find it interesting (and I don't know if anyone has really noticed this) but right leaning journalists seem to love bloggers, while left leaning ones are the ones with the sneering comments.

I also never hear left leaning journalists praise left wing bloggers in any way. But I could have missed it, seeing I tend to avoid reading left leaning journalists. Maybe it is because of the Right's love of freedom opposed to the Left's love of knowing what is best for all of us.

I happened upon the blogging world just before the Dan Rather story hit. I watched AMAZED that day as LGF , Hugh Hewitt , Instapundit, and Powerline and others took off with the story that seemed too incredible to be true. Could a mainstream television news network actually be putting out a false document that demeans the President in such a way that it may affect the election? I mean we all understood that a democratic operative would do that, but a highly respected news anchor??? Agree or disagree with Rather, it was astonishing to me what the bloggers were uncovering.
I remember linking them that day and saying ,"It doesn't look good for Rather," and a leftie commenter saying "let it go....you are all going to look like fools."

Well, we all know now who looked like a fool and it sure as heck wasn't the bloggers. I have to wonder if and when Fox news would have caught on to this story. (Lets face it, the others wouldn't have even tried) But even Fox might not have, assuming as most did, that someone like Dan Rather would never put out there a completely false document. But even then, by the time Fox News got the typography expert and the story together, would the damage already have been done to President Bush?

I guess we will never know. Would it be too dramatic to say that the bloggers may have stopped the political destruction of Bush and because of that we are not looking at a Kerry presidency?

I know that I am grateful to the bloggers who grabbed onto this story and hung on like a pit bull in a fight. It was a turning point in the way news is made, if only that the MSM now know that there are fact checkers looking over their shoulder, not for a paycheck, but for love of country. The bloggers will make sure the story is true and that it is being told fairly.

I don't think bloggers have much of an influence outside of the computer and journalism world though. Even though the bloggers are getting more recognition, most people I know don't even know what a blog is. The only reason bloggers were able to make an impact, even with the Rather story was because Fox News picked up the story. If there was no Fox News, the story probably would have slowly leaked out into places like National Review and maybe finally U.S. News and World Report. Probably too late.
Who knows ?

The future of blogging will be interesting to watch. Will it grow and become totally mainstream or will it just be a helping hand to journalists? All I know is that I am glad they were there when it was critical to be there.