"It has arguably backfired at least to some extent" says the report, of this prize. I hate that kind of language. It is weak and it makes me angry. The writer is in charge. The readers are useless worms who cannot write; they are young birds in the nest, waiting for the mummy bird to drop worms into their mouths. The writer should never show weakness or indecision. There are better ways to express an idea than by writing "it has arguably backfired at least to some extent".

Well I could make great arguments about the 'common's and the principles of web 2,0 (user interactivity as a concept is not new, merely rebranded - rebranding being the very essence of the whole web 2 phenomena) but I will simply resort to two arguments.

The first being that the web allows the rapid disseminaton of new information, for good or for ill, and the equally rapid analysis of such information by a wide variety of specialists - and yes, such specialists do exist out there. This is not a new thing. The minute the web became accessible to the general population, such thing were possible.

The second being that the argument put forth by nick cohen is a classic example of the mote and the beam. When 'proper' journalism is capable of producing high quality output 24/7 without any of the dross, sensationalism, ignorance, bias, deception, 'massaging' of statistics, twisting of events, ignoring of facts and outright lies promulgated by the vast majority of journalists, then they will be entirely justified in their criticism of the 'blogosphere'.

The simple facts are that I can pick up a copy of any major newspaper, pick a story and then go and find detailed analysis of that story on the web from a dozen experts (and a few hundred idiots, it has to be said, but how different is that from the print and TV media, really? Jack Thompson anyone?). I can find stories covered on the web that the major media simply ignore because, they say, it's not newsworthy, or for whatever other reasons they offer, yet at the same time they wonder why their audiences are disappearing. I can also find stories that don't deserve to appear in any shape or form in both print and on the web, yet unsurprisingly do appear in both.

The only difference between the print media and the web is that the low start-up costs of web publishing allow more people to get going. The signal to noise ratio is probably identical.

It has already been mentioned that traditional journalists are notorious - at least, amoung those of us who read from multiple sources, check out facts for ourselves, etc. - for 'sensationalism, ignorance, bias, ...' (good list, Graham). What doesn't seem to get covered is the intent of bloggers vs. journalists.

Whenever someone talks about hundreds of crap bloggers out there, I always wonder "yes, and how many of them /care/ what you think?" Some members of the so-called blogosphere are writing as journalists, and no small number of them are doing a horrible job at it. A significant minority is doing well. However, outnumbering either of these groups are those with no pretensions to journalistic talent whatsoever. Most of the time they're using their blog as some bizarre cross between email, a message board, and an online diary. If they write about the news, it's to catch the attention of their friends/family/enemies/pets/aliens from the planet Xeno, and they usually include a link to a "real" article in their post.

Personally, I find your typical blog to be incredibly boring to read, and there are only about a dozen that I actually read on a regular basis myself - including friends and family, because my friends can be just as boring when they start rambling online as anyone else. However, that doesn't justify the repeated attempt to devalue what worth these people - yes, PEOPLE - get from their blogging. If you don't like it, don't read it.

Daniel B

I don't know why someone bothers to tell us that most of the blogs he found are completely boring.

Even blogs by famous people or blogs about things that I'm interested in are always incredibly boring.

I don't think I've ever seen an interesting blog. "Reading a blog" is the new "watching the grass grow" or "watching paint dry". "How was the film?" "Oh, it was so boring it was like reading a blog".

One more factor for the mainstream media's low opinion of web content: They have no idea about the Web and haven't got a clue where to look. Pay a visit to the eXile (exile.ru), and especially Gary Brecher, John Dolan and Mark Ames. They write extraordinarily well, frequently getting the drop on major news outlets; and making them look ridiculous.

There are plently of people doing good work out there - they just don't get recognised; The late Chris Lightfoot (http://ex-parrot.com/%7Echris/wwwitter/), The Walled City (http://mirrorshades.org/wc/), BSAG (http://www.rousette.org.uk/), the Old Grey Poet (http://oldgreypoet.wordpress.com/), Minerva (http://womanlyparts.blogspot.com/) and so on...

These people won't be recognised, by the Guardian for example, because the hacks at that paper don't care about the Web and don't know it. They think they are being 'hip' and maybe even 'groovy' when they run an article on a website like Samizdata because it's the 'in thing' at the moment - for a readership more out of touch than they are. Then they look as thick as the suited, bespectacled and bemused chaps who reported on The Movement in the sixties. You've just got to look at these people operating for a while, wonder, and then give up on them.

Chris

http://chrislight.net

Just selecting the first few screen lines of Chris's recommended blogs gives us:

"The Walled City": "There's a reason my AIM screenname is "rantingkitten". Okay, it's because "kitten" is such a blindingly obvious name and was probably taken within minutes of the advent of the ubiquitous instant message concept being invented, but after I'd determined that, it felt right to add "ranting" as a prefix descriptor so that, when I went off on one of my trademark tirades, no one could claim they were surprised."

"but she's a girl": "Commuters tend to be creatures of habit, and I am no exception. My return journey timing is a bit more variable, but I tend to leave for work at about the same time everyday. The same is true of many other people I pass along the way, so they become a kind of fuzzy human clock."

"A woman of many parts": "I have been quiet, too quiet and the reason is simple. I have been so very, very angry. How strange, I hear you say, such good news and such a bizarre reaction. I agree, I completely agree. I have no explanation for how I feel, only that the juxtaposition of such very good news that the tumour has gone with the awful news that there is a 97% chance that it will come back in the next year has shortcircuited my emotions."

Who said blogs were boring? There's obviously nothing boring or self-indulgent about any of the above three fascinating people.