Bloggers frequently like to view themselves as the eventual replacement for the MSM, a notion which is, of course, absurd for a number of reasons, not the least of which being that most of what the blogosphere comments upon is information gleaned from MSM sources.
However, while that might be the apt line of thinking, James Joyner ask a salient question: Do Opinion Magazines Still Matter in the Age of Blogs? He has some noteworthy numbers as well.
Indeed, this reminds me of a comment made at the panel on blogging I was part of in January at the Southern Political Science Association meeting, where one of the panelists likened one of the motivations of academic bloggers to blog was to function in as a public intellectual along the lines of elite opinion magazines, like NR and TNR.
That struck me at the time as being an appropriate comparison, at least after a fashion, and James’ post reinforces the notion.
In fact, in some ways blogging is clearly replacing the elite opinion magazine: which gets read more, the various NR based blogs and blog-like online columns or the articles in the Dead Tree version? I don’t know, but I have a guess. Certainly I read Kevin Drum’s blog far far more than I read Washington Monthly–indeed, it is quite telling that WM’s main web page is Kevin’s blog. Heck, were it not for CalPundit, I would rarely, if ever, go to the WM’s web page.
February 28th, 2024 at 8:32 pm
While blogging may serve a purpose, for mea at least, it will never replace The Nation, or Mother Jones, and I don’t think (as long as neo-conservatism is popular) it will replace Kristol on the right either.