Do yourself a favor and read this great piece by James Poniewozik of TIME on the shifting roles of the press and blogs. There are some extraordinary quotes in here that you’d never even have imagined a couple of years ago.

It’s too simple to say that the new media are killing off the old media. Interest in political news is sky-high, and new and old media each need the other to supply material and drive attention. What’s happening instead is a kind of melding of roles. Old and new media are still symbiotic, but it’s getting hard to tell who’s the rhino and who’s the tickbird.

…if 3 million people read Drudge and 65,000 read the New Republic, which is mainstream?

…maybe we’ll also stop arbitrarily dividing “real” from “amateur” journalists and simply distinguish good reporting from bad, informed opinion from hot air, information from stenography.

Well said, Mr. Poniewozik. Let’s hope your message makes its way up the ivory towers.

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