Monday, September 13, 2004
DAN RATHER UPSTAGED BY "BLOGGERS IN PAJAMAS"
Welcome to the New Marketplace of Ideas, Dan!
Plenty has already been said about the CBS hit piece claiming the President shirked his National Guard obligations in the 70s, the laughable forgeries used to back their claim, the role of the blogosphere in promptly exposing those forgeries, and CBS's condescending truculence as they continue to defend their story (to wit: "We are credible, bloggers in pajamas are not, case closed"). So I thought I'd use the occasion as an "I Told You So" moment and republish a piece I wrote as a contributing editor for Free-Market.Net in October 2002. Enjoy!
October 11, 2002
Free-Market.Net Freedom Page of the Week: Blogger.com
Over the last year or so, web users have become acquainted with "blogs," short for "weblogs." A blog is simply an online journal of entries in chronological order. They often link to and comment about news stories and other blogs. The entries can vary in length from a couple of sentences to full-length articles. Blogs run the full spectrum from banal to informative, from twaddle to expert prose.
There’s nothing inherently libertarian about blogging. In fact some blogs are plainly statist, while most are apolitical. But libertarian principles call for a marketplace of ideas, and a free flow of information is a prerequisite to a competitive marketplace.
It once appeared that the commercialization of the web would obscure the voices of everyday folks. With the help of Blogger, that trend is beginning to reverse. Blogger's software makes it possible for people to publish their thoughts on the web quickly and painlessly. Best of all, Blogger can publish your material free of charge.
Estimates put the number of bloggers at half a million or more. The more prominent blogs receive several hundred thousand hits per day. Mid-market newspapers spend millions to achieve the same readership level.
Some mainstream media outlets openly ask if blogging will replace them as the web’s primary source of news and information. Others resentfully note that bloggers descend upon news articles moments after they are published, exposing factual errors and the biases of the writer. With tools like Blogger, Joe Sixpack in his living room can now upstage the most sophisticated mass media outlet.
Welcome to the marketplace of ideas.
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Welcome to the New Marketplace of Ideas, Dan!
Plenty has already been said about the CBS hit piece claiming the President shirked his National Guard obligations in the 70s, the laughable forgeries used to back their claim, the role of the blogosphere in promptly exposing those forgeries, and CBS's condescending truculence as they continue to defend their story (to wit: "We are credible, bloggers in pajamas are not, case closed"). So I thought I'd use the occasion as an "I Told You So" moment and republish a piece I wrote as a contributing editor for Free-Market.Net in October 2002. Enjoy!
October 11, 2002
Free-Market.Net Freedom Page of the Week: Blogger.com
Over the last year or so, web users have become acquainted with "blogs," short for "weblogs." A blog is simply an online journal of entries in chronological order. They often link to and comment about news stories and other blogs. The entries can vary in length from a couple of sentences to full-length articles. Blogs run the full spectrum from banal to informative, from twaddle to expert prose.
There’s nothing inherently libertarian about blogging. In fact some blogs are plainly statist, while most are apolitical. But libertarian principles call for a marketplace of ideas, and a free flow of information is a prerequisite to a competitive marketplace.
It once appeared that the commercialization of the web would obscure the voices of everyday folks. With the help of Blogger, that trend is beginning to reverse. Blogger's software makes it possible for people to publish their thoughts on the web quickly and painlessly. Best of all, Blogger can publish your material free of charge.
Estimates put the number of bloggers at half a million or more. The more prominent blogs receive several hundred thousand hits per day. Mid-market newspapers spend millions to achieve the same readership level.
Some mainstream media outlets openly ask if blogging will replace them as the web’s primary source of news and information. Others resentfully note that bloggers descend upon news articles moments after they are published, exposing factual errors and the biases of the writer. With tools like Blogger, Joe Sixpack in his living room can now upstage the most sophisticated mass media outlet.
Welcome to the marketplace of ideas.
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