Bloggers Strike Back

[dogday]

Reporting from the blogosphere has already changed the face of politics, journalism and even publishing. And the changes have only just begun.

With the consolidation of news media in this country, many Americans are frustrated by the closed and corporatized outlets for news and opinion. The same set of pundits have spewed their opinions, the same handful of established media outlets have decided what constitutes news and citizens have long been forced to just listen.

The blogosphere is changing all of that. Blogs are now a full-fledged alternative venue where citizens can directly communicate with and inform one another without having to rely only on establishment media sources. And they can obtain news analysis from a virtually infinite set of voices. Since its inception, though, the blogosphere has been largely self-contained, with bloggers able to exert influence on the dialogue within the blogosphere but having almost no influence outside of it.

But that is now changing, too.

The growth of the blogosphere's influence -- both in terms of the sheer numbers who participate in the blogosphere and the growing appreciation of its importance -- renders inevitable the growing influence of bloggers outside of the blogsphere. The blogosphere is pursuing this opportunity by developing mechanisms to enable bloggers to demand a voice in the national political dialogue.

http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/36100/

[Atman]

1. Which is why we should all be very concerned

How much longer until BushCo and their corporate sponsors take action to put a lid on it? Don't say "they can't! No one owns the internet!" That is bullshit. You have to pay someone to get that signal to your computer. As long as you require a third party to get you online, there is a way for the government to shut it down, or severly restrict your access to it.

[Missy M]

2. Will the Bush administration and neocons try to......

regulate and censor content on the internet to try and stop the success of the blogospheres?

[kestrel91316]

7. Yes. Expect an announcement soon that it is the ONLY way to

stop the "terrorists".

[sweetheart]

9. No, they'll spam the blogs

They'll make sure that every person on earth writes a blog,
so that any unique voices are drowned out.

[Missy M]

10. Karl Rove is probably working on it right now..

[fearthem]

3. I think we should all email the news networks and let them know where...

we get our news -- the day will come that they will be obsolete unless they change their ways, begin investigating, reporting the truth.

[emcguffie]

4. What will happen when the Net is no longer neutral?

Can we set up an alternative net?

Can we go back to pamphleteering?

Can we once again establish family owned newspapers? I realize we would need some wealthy families, but there are a few of those here and there. Is there any way to prevent a family-owned newspaper from being bought out by a corporation?

[bryant69]

6. I think I'd make a good Pamphleteer

But hopefully the net will stick around a bit longer. Actually it will be interesting to see what Blogspot will do - being owned by Google. One assumes that Google will poney up the fee to keep at the top of everybodies list - will that cover Blogspot too?

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[stanwyck]

5. People are so behind the curve

on this. Look at poor Rumsfeld repeatedly lying and thinking no one will notice. Or if they do...it's just a few elitists and who cares? Well. We can email each other now, send links, show video clips, and disburse info almost instantaneously.
Ask Richard Cohen. He wrote his ridiculous "Colbert is RUDE!" column and found over 3000 angry emails in his inbox. (and, he says, some confirming his opinion). Bet those were outnumbered 1000 to 1 by people connected thru blogs who decided Cohen deserved to hear opposing views.
Take just one DUer's buddy list...then multiply that by 1000-2000. And do the math.
Meanwhile, our military leaders weren't ready for soldiers who took cellphones and digital cameras into battle. (makes it tough to break the Geneva convention when the 19-yr. old with his techie toys just blasted an email to his buddy list showing pix of prisoners' rights being violated.)
It's a different world. And the cranky old guys on the porch just don't get it.

[Arugula Latte]

8. Nothing makes me happier than seeing these fuckwit "pundits"

getting the smug sneers wiped off their little faces. I think they hear their obsolescence rapidly approaching, rumbling in like a thunderstorm on a summer night.