Early today I buzzed by the MSNBC convention coverage site (probably through the ad link they’re running on this and other blogs) and was flabbergasted to see that they’ve absorbed the blogging model to something like a mind-bending degree. Fineman’s got a convention blog now. Hardball has some sort of pan-show blog. And on the latter, even Andrea Mitchell seemed to have typed out a post or two. I had to wonder whether her husband, Alan Greenspan, might be next. Perhaps an FOMC blog?
I’ve never been much for the blog triumphalism that seems always to be so much a part of the blog universe. Blogs make up a small, specialized niche within the interdependent media ecosystem — mainly not producers but primary or usually secondary consumers — like small field mice, ferrets, or bats.
When I see the mainest of mainstream outfits buying into the concept or the model I really don’t know what to think. The best way I can describe my reaction is some mix of puzzlement and incredulity.
I’ve always thought of this as just a vehicle for writing — a mix of reporting and opinion journalism, done in a format that allows a maximum degree of flexibility, not bound by limitations of space — the need to write long or short — or any of the confining genre requirements that define conventional journalism.
The whole thing is mystifying to me.
And, yes, I just arrived late this evening in Boston.
