The Future of News and Opinion
January 31, 2006 |
The President’s State of the Union speech ended just a few minutes ago and already the blogosphere is a buzz deconstructing the speech and analyzing just about everything from who stood up during which point to the ramifications of what President Bush said. In many ways, the blogosphere has become the new delivery vehicle of information and opinion in this country.
Blogs have come a long way since the term was coined almost 7 years ago, when blogs were mostly an extension of one’s personal journal that the world was able to access. Today, blogs have moved to become more topical in nature–just look at the different categories for this years Bloggie Awards. There is a blog for people interested in celebrity gossip, cooking tips, and advertisements–there is even a blog about designing other blogs. But a vast number of blogs out in the some 26.8 million blogs on the internet have to do with news and politics. Technorati, a sort of clearing house for the blogosphere, lists five of the internet’s ten most popular blogs are political opinion in nature.
The political blog became mainstream in America during last year’s heated Presidential election. There were bloggers situated on both sides of the isle evaluating the other sides messages, stance on issues, and ratifying their own. Since then, the blogging world has moved from just being accepted to being embraced by traditional media outlets. NBC’s Dateline features a look at the blogosphere once a week, CNN’s The Situation Room has “internet reporters” who look at bloggers opinions daily, and Slate–an online news magazine owned by the Washington Post/Newsweek has a column called “The Daily Blog” that looks at just that–what the blogosphere is talking about.
Blogs are a way for people to freely deliver information and their opinions to the world–and for the world to respond to them. This open dialog between the reader and the author has never been seen before. Traditional outlets have “letters to the editor” but never has the dialog been conducted in a real time public forum. This free exchange does not come without it’s dangers–in this case the danger is slant.
The traditional media, whether it will admit it or not, contains a bias to either the left or the right. Each paper, magazine or network has it’s own slant either subtle or great. When it comes to the blogosphere, the slant is usually pretty large–and identifiable–thanks to being comprised of opinionated postings. While this is a danger, it is also a strength. Instead of trying to cover their slant under the disguise of fair journalism, blogs embrace it as their raison d’être. This is also, in a very round about way, holding the traditional media to a higher scrutiny. Because traditional outlets are now featuring blogs on their programs and in their pages, they are–for the most part–showcasing both sides of the isle–relating opinions from all vantage points.
The blog has redefined the op-ed piece and will continue to do so in the future. Traditional outlets, in looking at the blogosphere and featuring it’s contents, will in turn be holding themselves more accountable–pushing them toward a truly unbiased relating of the news. Who would have thought the blog could be so powerful?