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02/17/2005 Archived Entry: "MSMers and blogswarm"

It is always fun to see the mainstream media (MSMers) react to bloggers. Apoplexy is not too strong a word! Peggy Noonan opens her Wall Street Journal article, "The Blogs Must Be Crazy" with these words, "Salivating morons." "Scalp hunters." "Moon howlers." "Trophy hunters." "Sons of Sen. McCarthy." "Rabid." "Blogswarm." "These pseudo-journalist lynch mob people." This is excellent invective. It must come from bloggers. But wait, it was the mainstream media and their maidservants in the elite journalism reviews, and they were talking about bloggers!...

Noonan gives a spot-on analysis of why MSMers are apoplectic. Blogging changes how business is done in American journalism. The MSM isn't over. It just can no longer pose as if it is The Guardian of Established Truth. The MSM is just another player now. A big one, but a player. Noonan then proceeds to list five reasons why bloggers are making MSMers feel threatened. [The following list has been condensed.]

1. They use the tools of journalists
2. Bloggers, unlike reporters at elite newspapers and magazines, are independent operators.
3. Bloggers have an institutional advantage in terms of technology and form.
4. Bloggers are also selling the smartest take on a story. They're selling an original insight
5. And they're doing it free.