Blogging and mainstream media

Editor & Publisher interviews Mitch Ratcliffe, former writer for MacWeek and editor of Digital Media, about blogging's power to change journalism.

The tools will definitely transform the news as we know it, because many more people are able to contribute to the recording of the news. Individual citizens can tell stories instead of waiting for "the media" to do it. Look at OhMyNews in Korea, where "Every Citizen's a Reporter," which has broken into the top five media outlets in the country. Here in the United States, we have individual bloggers, like Glenn Reynolds, who are breaking into established media outlets by blogging. They build an audience and that will always catch some company's attention.

And what about the little bloggers?

They will fact-check, criticize and debate with the news media, remaking stories and spreading links. Most news blogs wouldn't have anything to write about if they weren't pointing to existing news stories about which they want to comment, so the proliferation of blogs should be generally good for the readership and traffic figures at commercial Web sites.