The demise of the blog

March 26, 2003

Another day glued to CNN, with a pinch of Fox TV and Al jazeera. Furloughs in the blogosphere have been most disappointing, however; and this at the supposed hour of glory for blogsPerhaps the title The demise of the blog is a bit strong but I liked it too much not to use it. Also, this post is positioning itself so that when the inevitable backlash against blogs occurs, I can say I was ahead of the curve..

I opined a few weeks ago how blogs would add a unique new perspective to our understanding of war. But I was wrong. Embedded journalists who feed us victory and defeat live via videophone provide the unique new perspective in this war. Some reasons why blogs have failed to live up to the challenge:

Traditional media still has clout: Kevin Sites was all set to report by day and blog by night,Update 27/03/03: A Time reporter in Iraq gets his blog shut down as well.

How does CNN make money? The first few days of the war saw no ads at all on CNN. Then, a few days ago, a brave South African Airways offered up idyllic landscapes for escapist fantasies. The Croatians have now followed suit with an ad that intones, "The Mediterranean as it used to be," but unfortunately the cynic in me keeps on answering "When, during the Balkan war?" but his last post, on Mar 21, says "I've been asked to suspend my war blogging for awhile," because CNN feels his current job as correspondent is a full time commitment. Another tactic is to "embrace and extend"—several media outlets pay their reporters to write "behind the scenes" pieces that are meant to show color. But these have been raided for truly newsworthy content, and we get the feeling we're reading the cutting room floor.

Preachers to the choir: God these blogs are boring: InstaPundit, Kausfiles, AlterNet, Andrew Sullivan, AntiWar and Little Green Footballs. Poring over every scrap of information to extract a favorable take, ignoring that which doesn't fit the party line, vying for the most moral outrage given a Hollywood star's latest brainless utterance or presidential mispronunciation. Moral clarity is peddled, but morale crutches are what we get. The price is no substantive debate.

Echo chamber: How many anti-war blogs carried Micheal Moore's Oscars comments? How many warblogs blogged news of the "huge" chemical weapons factory? Enough said. And I get multiple copies of these emails in my inbox: You know the world is a crazy place when... I don't need to see it on a blog as well. Blogs sometimes just seem to hoover the internet indiscriminately, a million mediocre editors with a few readers each, when in fact we need a few good editors informing millions.

Perhaps blogs have been promoted above their station. They are not proving to be the optimal tool for distilling the fog of war war into clear conclusions (though there are exceptionsBlatant plug for MemeFirst, I know.). The best blogs know their place—say, as a pointer to original commentary, or as a place for discussion among self-selecting groups; or act as a clearing house for local information, such as gossip.

Permalink