Wild Wild Blogs

Siguiendo un enlace de GetReal, llego a un artículo de Peggy Noonan en el Opinion Journal - Wall Street Journal - de título bastante expresivo, "The Blogs Must Be Crazy, Or maybe the MSM is just suffering from freedom envy".

El artículo, es una especie de "glosa" de la autora, acerca de las bondades de los blogs, desde el punto de vista del servicio público, como servicios de información que son. Me parece interesante destacar los puntos en los que, según la autora - periodista en ejercicio dentro de uno de esos medios tradicionales (Main Stream Media, MSM) reside la fuerza de los blogs,

"1. They use the tools of journalists and of the Internet to look for and find facts that have been overlooked, ignored or hidden.

2. Bloggers, unlike reporters at elite newspapers and magazines, are independent operators. They are not, and do not have to be, governed by mainstream thinking.

3. Bloggers have an institutional advantage in terms of technology and form. They can post immediately. The items they post can be as long or short as they judge to be necessary.

4. Bloggers are also selling the smartest take on a story. They're selling an original insight, a new area of inquiry.

5. And they're doing it free.
[...]
That you get it free doesn't mean commerce isn't involved, for it is. It is intellectual commerce. Bloggers give you information and point of view. In return you give them your attention and intellectual energy. They gain influence by drawing your eyes; you gain information by lending your eyes. They become well-known and influential; you become entertained or informed. They get something from it and so do you.

6. It is not true that there are no controls. It is not true that the blogosphere is the Wild West. What governs members of the blogosphere is what governs to some degree members of the MSM, and that is the desire for status and respect.

7. [...] The blogosphere is tough. But are personal attacks worth it if what we get in return is a whole new media form that can add to the true-information flow while correcting the biases and lapses of the mainstream media? Yes. Of course."

Es interesante considerar qué tipo de aspectos percibe la profesión periodística, como característicos o definitorios de este nuevo fenómeno, propiciado por la popularización de las herramientas para la edición y publicación de páginas web y los estándares de agregación y sindicación de contenidos.

Otra forma de verlo, más cachonda, es la que ofrece Jon Stewart en Daily Show.