"Blogging is a format, not a genre"

"Our bloggers take on the mainstream media in new ways," asserts Larry Kudlow (left in above photo, with Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs right) in a tease for after "the break" on CNBC this afta. Meow Cat, our new desktop mascot (foreground). helps put things in perspective.

"Is this thing [Pajamas Media] going to work?" Larry asks the Master of the Blogosphere, Glenn Reynolds. "You're one of the most widely read.  With newspaper circulation down, can this thing take off?"  Says Glenn:

One of the problems that smaller bloggers, or bloggers with smaller audiences have now, is just getting noticed. And this will be a system that I think will be a little more egalitarian, and make it easier for anybody to rise to the top and get attention when they have something worthwhile to report or to say.

Yah.  The importance of getting noticed and not disappearing down the memory hole without knowing why.  This blog's standing has been shrinking of late. After being 240th in the Ecosystem for ages, we were suddenly thrust down to the mid 800's and 900's in the last coupla weeks, and now for the first time today, we're over 1000th. Tumblin', tumblin' down. Can anything be done about it? It's horrifying that the Ecosystem continues to be the gold standard, with absolutely no accountability.

Roger L. Simon's there, too -- without a hat (not bad) -- and it's all totally wunnerful, but unfortunately, we were in the middle of preparing dinner and counting on Radioblogger for a transcript, which eventually delivered although not soon enough for this post. It's in the air now, and you can't miss it.  Virginia Postrel says it best today in Forbes (available by subscription, which we don't have, or by putting yourself on the Divine Miss P's email list, which we have): "A blog is simply a Web page whose author adds new content, or posts, over time. Blogging is a format, not a genre." She continues:

News pros seem terribly threatened by online amateurs. Blogging is a "solipsistic, self-aggrandizing, journalist-wannabe genre," writes David Shaw in the Los Angeles Times. Shaw, who won a Pulitzer Prize in 1991 for his media criticism, declares that bloggers are "practitioners of what is at best pseudo-journalism" and that "many bloggers -- not all, perhaps not even most -- don't seem to worry much about being accurate."

Shaw doesn't follow the basic journalistic formula of backing up a generalization with names and quotes, so we can't be sure who he's talking about. But he needs to do more reporting. Generalizing about blogs is like generalizing about books.

Newspaper-based critics like Shaw have a desiccated notion of their own profession. Roam a newsstand and you'll find a journalistic world that looks a lot more like the blogosphere than the L.A. Times does. From Vogue to Sports Illustrated to Cat Fancy to Rolling Stone to Military History, magazines feature focused interests, strong voices and passionate attachments.

Former blogger Steven den Beste made the distinction between "thinkers," who post primarily their own thoughts, and "linkers," who mostly direct readers to other sources. If thinkers are sources, linkers are what journalists call "editors."

Readers gravitate to these sites for the same reason people have favorite magazines -- because they share the editor's interests, sensibility and point of view. That's how Glenn Reynolds, a little-known University of Tennessee law professor, turned Instapundit.com into a destination with more than 100,000 visitors a day.

Reading ABOUT blogs -- as opposed to reading blogs -- has become a yawner.  They're out there, and they're being heard. I am blogger, hear me roar.

Comments

[Mr.Kurtz]

At last, A cat that can sleep on my newly clean black T-shirts instead of the Persian.

I read a Very Prominent Newspaper from a Very Large City on the eastern seaboard, so, thankfully, I have my fill of "solipsistic, self-aggrandizing practitioners of what is at best pseudo-journalism, who don't seem to worry much about being accurate". That gives me lots of time to read elegant, lucid prose like yours.

Re. LAT, NYT: Mr. den Beste omitted the "stinkers".

[Sissy Willis]

Thanks, Mr. Kurtz. I couldn't agree more, of course. :)

[Dr. Mohamed Taher]

Thanks for the insights.

I have cited you in my post: An Army of Davids - It is All About Blogs and Infostructure