Bloggers, writer Eugene Kane opines on his blog, may be a thing of the past:
Just a few years ago, citizen bloggers were all the rage. They were actually going to replace the mainstream media, remember?
The successful blogs in today’s media are actually pretty mainstream, particularly political blogs that are frequently cited by newspaper columnists or editorial writers. The days of solitary citizen bloggers sending their opinions out into the blogosphere to attract attention seem to be a thing of the past.
As this article points out, it’s more about Twitter and Facebook these days.
Putting aside the irony of Eugene Kane discussing the demise of bloggers on his own Journal Sentinel-provided blog, I’m struck by the fact that Kane seems to be blissfully unaware of (or just ignoring) what’s going on at his own company. CNI, owned by the same Journal Communications that owns the MJS, recently announced layoffs of a significant number of staff members, leaving CNI with a bare-bones news operation. Who’s going to fill in the gaps in reporting left by those layoffs? Citizen bloggers, based on what I’ve seen thus far. As traditional media operations like the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel continue their slow march towards irrelevance, I’m willing to bet citizen bloggers will continue to fill the gaps in reporting left by the mainstream media.
Despite what Eugene Kane may think, citizen bloggers aren’t dead; we’re alive and well, both on the right and the left.
Dan Codyhas more.
Finally something we can agree on!
Indeed, Todd. I’m willing to bet there’s more we agree on.