As you know if you've been reading CBO for a while, my beat of late has been a sort of cultural history reaching back into the 18th century and beyond. I don't make a habit of commenting on contemporaneous events; the present being so fleeting and, let's face it, tacky. And I don't hold with those who pontificate on the weird and quite possibly dangerous beliefs of others. Live and let live, that's my motto. But I find myself moved to make an exception in this case. The shocking photo to the left was snapped by Doc Searls at a recent convention of so-called web-loggers, an outrageously scofflaw demographic that has proliferated like kudzu over the past few years.

Where did these people come from? What's their agenda? Is it true, as some have whispered, that they're part of a plot to weaken the moral fabric of America? Herr Professor Doctor Searls has set himself the herculean task of documenting the phenomenon for posterity, selflessly traveling from "blog" conference to blog conference, attempting to answer these and even deeper questions: Do "bloggers" share our basic family values?; Do they go to church on Sundays and brush after every meal?; Are they raising their children to be obedient and God-fearing citizens? These questions are heavily begged by this disturbing photo of a blog-mother forcing beer on her innocent toddler. And she a lawyer, no less!

Moreover, we may ask ourselves whether bloggers believe, as we do, that the legitimate press is, in fact, legitimate? Why, only yesterday, Reuters reported that blogs haven't displaced media. (I suppose they meant to say "traditional mass media," because all those AOL disks I saved for cocktail coasters are still here -- I just now checked the safe deposit box I keep them in.) For example, the man pictured to the left, Dan Gillmor, was once a proud reporter for the highly respected San Jose Mercury News. Now he writes: "The promise of the Internet was simple, but incredibly powerful: to be a medium through which we could connect and collaborate, for mutual benefit. It's happening."

So let me get this straight: despite the documented findings of the Pew Internet & American Life Project and no less a name in power consulting than BuzzMetrics, we are expected to believe this populist balderdash? Good Lord! Doesn't Mr. Gillmor realize that, without the power and authority of an actual newspaper behind him, he's just another voice crying in the wilderness of an ever-burgeoning blog rabble?

from: Online news: the changing digital mediascape
by Sharon Tickle
source: Journal of Australian Studies, 1 December 2001.
via: HighBeam™ Research
Copyright © 2001 University of Queensland Press

Well before the economic impact of the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States, the communications and information industries were headed for a correction that would see over 40,000 dotcom jobs cut in the US alone in 2000. In the online media sector a change in organisational strategy was altering the rules of engagement. Alliances between telecommunications companies, internet start-ups, media organisations and computer industry leaders coupled with a downturn in the world economy triggered a shake-up in the online media industry. In April 2000 America Online and Time Warner announced their merger and the acquisition of music giant EMI. Similarly the Seven Network confirmed its marriage to NBC internet's arm, owned by General Electric. San Jose Mercury News Dan Gillmor commented on the AOL-Time Warner merger: When the biggest online company controls the biggest traditional media company, you'd be wise to turn to other sources for reliable information.

Now I ask you, what kind of attitude is that? But Ms. Tickle has done us all a service by including the quote. What these self-styled "public journalists" don't seem to understand is the crucial function of corporate guidance in a great republic such as ours. Without the leavening influence of commercial advertising, people might say anything they felt like, might write anything that came into their heads. And the result? A cacophony of opinion, random, unverified ideas, and an overall disrespect for the lubricating beneficence of the only value that really counts for anything in America today: money.

Don't laugh. It's what pays your bills, right? It's what makes you feel a part of the Great Experiment that our forebears bequeathed to us in the U.S. Constitution before all that ill-advised amending got underway. It's what...

But no, I can't go on with this stupid parody. Instead, shout-outs to:

• Denise Howell (and Tyler, pictured with the bottle[s], above). She really doesn't guzzle beer. As far as I know.
• Doc Searls, co-author of the far-famed Cluetrain Manifesto. He really does go to all those blogging conferences.
• and to Dan Gillmor, who is -- grass-roots and ground-zero -- doing something truly important for the continuation of our embattled democracy.

Kudos.