Eric, and out standing piece! Thanks for sharing it. I plan on sharing it myself, when I go to work tomorrow.

Glad you liked it, Jeff. Peggy's got some cred with MSMers, so of course the blogosphere is doing some crowing about her article.

I do happen to disagree with her prediction that someday the 'sphere is going to get something important very wrong. I just don't think that a legitimate story will be misplayed by that many participants simultaneously. The fact-checking synergy is simply too strong. (Now, could the 'sphere fall for a story that was intentionally created to trip it up? I suppose so, if it was good enough. But that's not really the same thing, and even then, I have my doubts.)

The next big breakthrough need to be Bloggers finding and reporting news, not simply reading, basically, MSM generated news and commenting on dissecting it.

Wow! Good article. I guess we are a part of history, cultural change or revolution. Thanks for bring this article to my attention.

Great finds like this are why I read the Gazette even before the local fishwrap.

Got a big smile on her spoof of the MSM's attitude towards bloggers.

"It's the Wild Wild West out there. We may have to consider legislation."

Except when a new study showed nearly half the highschool students out there support enacting that sort of legislation against the MSM.

"Some publisher is going to decide that if you can't fight blogs, you can join them."
...or like "the Whirled", let's use the legal department to stifle the loudest ones that embarrass us.

The next big breakthrough need to be Bloggers finding and reporting news, not simply reading, basically, MSM generated news and commenting on dissecting it.

Careful, Wallace, or you'll be the next victim of a blogswarm. The hive is testy. ;-)

Mr. Freen, the folks at the whirled have to either be dense or scared. You know how cockroaches scurry when a light is shined in their direction...?

Re: "The next big breakthrough need to be Bloggers finding and reporting news ..."

Have at it, friends. Breaking news in Midland ... right here, right now (02/18/05, 10 a.m.), and developing throughout the day.

A wonderful opportunity for all of you.

Sure, Jeff, rub it in.

I for one have no illusions about the ability (or desire) of most bloggers to do investigative reporting, or even simple reporting of current events. It's impossible to sit in front of your computer typing up snappy posts and still cover "breaking news." Bloggers who occasionally are able to do that are those who find themselves literally in the middle of that news (blogging from Baghdad during "shock and awe," for example). Or, they stumble across it by accident.

This is an area that is ripe for extended discussion, at some point. I'll leave it at this, for now: bloggers are generally limited either by desire or resources to "secondary creativity," which term I apply to the auditing of a product created by someone else. Very rarely do they engage in "primary creativity" with respect to "breaking news." I don't think this is necessarily a good or bad thing; it just is. But it should tend to cause bloggers to give pause before claiming to be all things to all people when it comes to journalism.