The Inevitable Evolution of Reporting to Blogging

UPDATED BELOW:

Having been a blogger for several years now and a blog participant for even more, I have a deep appreciation for the value and advantages of blogging as a communication media. It is fundamentally different - and better - than print media. It has all the advantages of the Webby Way. It's intimate and yet global. It's personal and still collaborative. It's free to both blogger and bloggee. It's instant. It's timely. It's as detailed - or not - as the situation calls for. It's self correcting. I could go on. You can see that I love blogging.

So, it's very gratifying to me when the grand dame of print media, the NYT, gives credit where credit is due to blog news. This article on Firedoglake's coverage of the Libby trial gets it right.

Why is Firedoglake's coverage of the trial better than the NYT? The legal and political savvy of the bloggers frankly exceeds that of NYT's journalism staff, for one. In an era when newspapers have just become a business - and no longer the fourth estate - they've lost their ability to act as guardians of the people. They're not a free press any more. Bloggers are free in a way that papers no longer are. And TV news even less so. Firedoglake paid for their coverage by asking for contributions directly from their readers . They were bankrolled on this effort by loyal readers who knew what they would be getting would be worth it. And they knew they would be frustrated and disappointed by the traditional media.

My prediction is that the real talent in the current print media catches on to this. Once they all realize that they can start their own blog, and make money off adds and contributions - and be free to report - and investigate - whatever they want to - many will join the Webby Way. Regardless, the blogs are here to stay and the newspapers will go away.

UPDATE: A ditto from the sports world.

UPDATE 2: While the NYT was very complimentary of Firedoglake's reporting, she's gone to war with the Washington Post!