The power of good blogs

The Belgravia Dispatch - and Greg's article discussing the continuing debate ref: Niger and uranium represent citizen journalism at its best...and I don't mean strictly because Greg gets to the truth and tells us what it's all about. He doesn't (heck, who really does? We all approach stories and events with pre-conceived notions and beliefs)...but his writing style and his reputation draw deep, well developed comments from both sides of an issue. For those readers who spend the time delving into his comments, it is possible to come away with a much better understanding of both sides of an argument - and plenty of leads to pursue for those looking to bone up on one controversy or another.

Unfortunately, there are far too many blogs that spend their time as echo chambers, bouncing the same ideas (built from the same evidence) around until they begin to take on the aura of absolute truth. And many of those blogs draw the most traffic - whether it's LGF, Powerline, or DailyKOS. But again, the power of the blog stems from links. When the hard right or left chooses to 'engage' the arguments of the other side, they must first read those arguments...and then link to those arguments. In doing so, they create a relationship that is changing the nature of news and changing the nature of online discussions. One can spend days chasing down the roots of a well-developed argument, bouncing freely between blogs, MSM, research reports, think tank studies, and any other web-based documentation. For those with an open mind, it can be an enlightening experience. For those with pre-conceived notions, it can be a great chance to build a compelling case out of anecdotal evidence that supports those notions.

Tags:

Citizen media
Niger
Iraq
Online debate