The grandiloquent Peggy Noonan lost us way back when -- couldn't find the reference from a quick Google search (wish we had Lexus/Nexus) -- when the former Reagan speechwriter gave the knowing nod to her liberal friends, impyling The Great Communicator was something of a dummie (We're remembering, without being able to bring up the article, a piece in the Wall Street Journal a few years back where The Divine Miss N was having her doubts. Doesn't she always?) That meme has long since been given the lie, but Peggy's dis never set right with us. The condescension dripped lachrymosely from her piece, and we've never been able to trust the beautiful, brilliant (Can you say jealous of such a magnificent woman? Yes.) gal's instincts since. 'Reminds us of Bill Kristol's snide insinuations re his former boss, Dan Quayle, in the day. A couple of weeks ago Miss Peggy dissed GW's SOTU. We didn't bother to comment at the time. Now she is -- we hate the word, but -- S***ing up to the bloggers in today's Opinion Journal, and for the most part she gets it right, but two points from her otherwise incisive piece told us she still doesn't quite get it:
1. Some brilliant rising young reporter with a growing reputation at the Times or Newsweek or Post is going to quit, go into the blogging business, start The Daily Joe, get someone to give him a guaranteed ad for two years, and become a journalistic force. His motive will be influence, and the use of his gifts along the lines of excellence. His blog will further legitimize blogging.
Guess what, Peggy? Michelle Malkin, whom you cite, is already there.
2. Some publisher is going to decide that if you can't fight blogs, you can join them. He'll think like this: We're already on the Internet. That's how bloggers get and review our reporting. Why don't we get our own bloggers to challenge our work? Why don't we invite bloggers who already exist into the tent? Why not take the best things said on blogs each day and print them on a Daily Blog page? We'd be enhancing our rep as an honest news organization, and it will further our branding!
No, darling. You don't hire your own bloggers to challenge your work. That's called conflict of interest. But yes, Michelle is the future of news reporting and commentary, and the future is looking bright.
Ain't she beautiful? Michelle Malkin is the face -- and the media model -- of the future.
Update: Prepare for a Michellanche. Thanks, doll!
Yes. The uncovering of little known information and freedom to express ideas in the market place of public information is the great gift from the blogs. Our thanks to those like Malkin who lead the way and to those like Noonan who glimpse a light and struggle to understand.
Posted by: goomp | February 17, 2005 at 09:32 AM
Why Noonan thinks someone has to travel over from the MSM to further legitimize blog journalism is hard to figure. I guess she is just saying that even someone who comes up in the stilted and bias-ridden world of the MSM can have a light-bulb go off in their head and realize that they could do a lot more if they didn't have to contend with the MSM's truth-hating news filters. Realistically though, the people who have the ideological bonafides to get hired by the MSM in the first place are the last people who are going to have any light bulbs going off.
A couple of rebel girls managed to get in before the MSM realized, to their shock and dismay, that not all women are politically correct. Michelle and Debra Saunders at the SF Chronicle are examples, but the Chronicle closed that loophole by promoting its next female columnist from within (Joan Ryan, a reliable lefty ex-sportswriter who auditioned for the opinion page by writing about the immorality of SUV drivers). The San Jose Mercury News did the same thing, promoting reliable lefty ex-sportswriter Anne Killion (an excellent sportswriter by the way) to write ideological trash in other sections of the paper. The upshot is, don't expect another Debra or Michelle to come out of the MSM.
The only actual conversion I can think of is John Stossell. Any other examples?
Posted by: Alec Rawls | February 17, 2005 at 04:41 PM