Presence

I happened to be watching "Meet the Press" yesterday (I assure you, this is not a typical Sunday afternoon morning activity for me), and all of a sudden, Tim Russert starts talking about blogs, mostly in the context of the presidential campaign. I really don't have much to add to what Jeff Jarvis said. I do think that Roger Simon acted like a big doofus, putting down blogs, while at the same time claiming that he is a blogger, but his writing is somehow above regular blogs. All Roger does is post his U.S. News & World Report column on his page. No personal voice, no personal opinions; in other words, just the kind of stuff that I avoid the big print media because of.

Of greater interest (to me) was the attitude the journalists had towards blogs. Some were incredulous, which makes sense as they are "big media." But others acknowledged that blogs are putting the personal voice back into the public discourse. The bottom line, which none of these guys seemed to get, is that a blog is just a tool; what you do with it is what really makes the difference. To blow off blogs as just a passing fad is equivalent to treating the Internet with indifference in the arena of media, journalism, popular opinion and popular culture. In my opinion, this is short-sighted and frankly, wrong approach. The Internet does, and will, play a major role in all these areas, and blogs are the first step. The future will likely take us places we can't even imagine.