Blogs and Mainstream Media

You read it here first. Now, Peggy Noonan says it thoroughly here. Mainstream Media is getting hysterical about the blogs.

Noonan says, "When you hear name-calling like what we've been hearing from the elite media this week, you know someone must be doing something right." Here's a summary of what she says the blogs are doing right:

1. They find and post information that is true.

2. They are free from the controls of an editorial board, so they can decide what is a story and when it stops being a story.

3. They can post immediately and can even make a short post, if that is all that's needed.

4. They each offer their own insights.

5. They offer it for free.

6. They are controlled by other bloggers, who point out error or stupidity.

7. They are strong enough to take the attacks that may come (or they get out of the "business").

It's fun being a small part of a newly developing vehicle for information delivery, analysis, and publication. In some ways it feels like the post-Gutenberg world that Hugh Hewitt discusses in his book, "Blog," as people discovered the printed flyer and brochure as ways to spread information to larger numbers of people than was ever possible before.

Sooner or later, the blogs will get themselves sorted out, MSM will learn to adjust to a blog-inhabited world, and the readers will choose their favored MSM/blog blend. It's going to be a great ride getting there.