davidvoegtle.net

Steve Chapman: Are the media biased against Obama?: A study by the Center for Media and Public Affairs at George Mason University, which conservatives have always regarded as sympathetic, says the three broadcast networks have been more critical of Obama than of John McCain in their recent news coverage.

(Via Chicago Tribune.)

Not a surprise to many Obama supporters, who have noted a sustained negative campaign against their candidate for several months. As I noted in a Newsvine comment recently in response to someone who claimed Obama received universally positive coverage:

Rev. Wright? Terrorist fist jab? “Limping” across the finish line? Can he close the deal? Can he win over Hillary supporters? Just what is Obama’s probably with white voters, anyway? With Jewish voters? Incessant handwringing about Kentucky and West Virginia? How can Obama win if he doesn’t win the working class (never mind that a Democrat hasn’t won the working class in forty years)? Just why does Michelle hate America?

Every major story (e.g. those stories that go on for multiple news cycles), just about, except this one has been a highly negative one for Obama, except stories dealing with his fundraising (and perhaps the race speech, which itself was tied to the Wright flap).

In politics, there definitely is such a thing as bad publicity. Ask Mark Foley or Geoge Allen.

This, also: Much of what is perceived as media bias is simply bias toward what’s newsworthy, is a point I’ve been arguing regularly. McCain’s own narrative of this campaign, that he is the more experienced in foreign affairs due to his many trips to Iraq (and the many trips themselves), have served to make his overseas trips less newsworthy than Obama’s by dint if their admitted commonness.

The news organizations report what is newsworthy, not with an eye towards providing one Republican story for every one Democratic story. For a party that worked so hard to eliminate the Fairness Doctrine, they sure whine a lot about perceived unfairness in the media.

Technorati Tags: barack-obama, bias, election-2008, media, Politics, presidential-election

Why the press is ignoring the Edwards “love child” story. - By Jack Shafer - Slate Magazine: “But if Edwards had an affair and lied about it, shouldn’t he suffer scrutiny akin to that of Craig? At least three-dozen daily newspapers in the United States published the Craig news the day after the Roll Call scoop, according to Nexis, but this morning not a single U.S. daily mentioned the Enquirer piece.”

The problem with this line of reasoning is that in the Larry Craig case there was an actual credible public record and a very credible witness: the police report of the incident and the officer himself. In the Edwards case we don’t have a similar credible record.

It would be, frankly, irresponsible of the media to play up the Edwards story at this point given the thinness of the record beyond the National Enquirer’s own reporting (which is, at best, hit and miss as far as credibility goes). Additionally, the National Enquirer has a vested interest in stirring up this story, possibly beyond what any actual facts gathered by the paper will support (increased circulation being an obvious one).

The rest of the media is rightly being cautious with this story.

Technorati Tags: hypocrisy, john-edwards, larry-craig, national-enquirer

Olympic Deal Sealed: Obama Makes $5 Million Buy - Advertising Age - News: “It’s official. Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign will be among the TV sponsors of NBC Universal’s Olympics coverage. In the first significant network-TV buy of any presidential candidate in at least 16 years, the Obama campaign has taken a $5 million package of Olympics spots that includes network TV as well as cable ads.”

(Via Daily Kos.)

An interesting choice, and probably ultimately a correct one. Obama wants to run a 50-state campaign, and a truly national ad buy during an event of the stature of the Olympics is probably a smart move. I’ll be interested to see the ad when it finally shows up.

Technorati Tags: advertising, barack-obama, cnbc, msnbc, nbc, obama, olympics, political-advertising

Today @ PC World Esquire First to Newstands with E-Ink Battery-Powered Cover: “Newsstands across America will come to life this September when men’s magazine Esquire rolls out the first magazine cover ever to use E-ink.”

(Via JCAtom @ Newsvine.)

How cool is that (at least for the novelty)? However, I can’t see it lasting long-term. There’s just not much need for print magazines to go through the expense of e-ink in a printed magazine. The future is digital distribution, which will save time and production costs, and allow media organizations to devote more money to content creation.

Both Sharp and Fujitsu demoed color e-ink technology years ago. When mass production finally takes off, there will be very little reason to maintain traditional hardcopy subscriptions.

Technorati Tags: e-ink, esquire, media

Seeded at Newsvine:

I am stumped by how to excerpt the language on message boards and blogs.

Take a passage signed by zipthwung, an astute online commenter: “pornography if for the ruling classes and their violent vulgar all consuming appetites. Or their slaves.”

Technorati Tags: acronyms, grammar, initialisms, language, pluralizing-apostrophe

Seeded at Newsvine:

People of color appreciate Stuff White People Like because it makes visible the assumed invisibility of a certain type of white culture. In doing so, it opens the door to the admission that, yes, white culture is a distinct, often peculiar, and even varied phenomenon.

Technorati Tags: blogging, culture, race, racism, stuff-white-people-like

Seeded at Newsvine:

On the July 2 edition of Fox News’ Fox & Friends, co-hosts Steve Doocy and Brian Kilmeade labeled New York Times reporter Jacques Steinberg and editor Steven Reddicliffe “attack dogs,” claiming that Steinberg’s June 28 article on the “ominous trend” in Fox News’ ratings was a “hi …

Definitely worth the click-through to Media Matters to see exactly how disgusting the people at Fox News are acting.

One of these things is not like the other one, one of these things is not quite the same…

We Thought The Economist’s Anne Geddes Cover Was a Bit Odd Too - Wonkette: At left, the covers of each edition of this week’s Newsweek.

(Via Wonkette.)

But this is still worth seeing at least once, I guess:

(Via Pope Zypgx @ LiveJournal)

It looks good. Although an endorsement by Roger Ebert…let’s hope that’s not a kiss of death.

(Via towleroad)

There’s almost nothing I love so much as book shopping. Every year UT Press has a book sale where they sell some of the titles and also have a large clearance sale on “hurt” books. I’ve gone almost every year for a while (I didn’t make it out last year).

Anyway, here is this year’s haul:

Colbert Lampoons Bush at White House Correspondents Dinner– President Does Not Seem Amused: WASHINGTON A blistering comedy tribute to President Bush by Comedy Central’s faux talk show host Stephen Colbert at the White House Correspondent Dinner Saturday night left George and Laura Bush unsmiling at its close.

(Via AMERICAblog.)

Here are a couple of highlights from the E&P piece. I wonder if this will show up on YouTube at some point.

Turning to the war, he declared, “I believe that the government that governs best is a government that governs least, and by these standards we have set up a fabulous government in Iraq.”

Addressing the reporters, he said, “You should spend more time with your families, write that novel you’ve always wanted to write. You know, the one about the fearless reporter who stands up to the administration. You know– fiction.”

Colbert closed his routine with a video fantasy where he gets to be White House Press Secretary, complete with a special “Gannon” button on his podium. By the end, he runs fleeing from Helen Thomas and her questions about why the U.S. really invaded Iraq and killed all those people.

The Dodge Caliber and Fairies: I’m curious as to how people feel about the controversy surrounding this Dodge ad. Some bloggers and gay ad watchdogs have called Dodge out for homophobia.

“It directly finds humor with the term fairy, referring not just to the type that flies around with a magic wand, but also the universally recognizable gay stereotype of an effeminate gay man,” said the Commercial Closet.

(Via towleroad.)

Maybe I’m just dense, but I saw the ad on TV a few weeks ago. I don’t think I was offended by it; I don’t think it even registered as “gay.” If anything, it struck me as more of a classist attack than one against homosexuals. I can see their interpretation, but I don’t think it was malicious.

And I kind of like the ad anyway.

Technorati Tags: Dodge, gay, humor, fairy, gay, TV, homosexuals

Everybody seems to be talking about Dangerous Muse, and I have to agree I think their tracks are pretty great. A Socialite’s Life is having a Dangerous Muse contest.

(Via towleroad.)

Among other new music I tried out this month is Dangerous Muse, via towleroad. I kind of like ‘em. There are only three tracks right now, but I’d be willing to listen to more. It doesn’t look like they’re signed, but you can get the tracks via iTunes and a few other music services (links at their site).

Technorati Tags: Dangerous Muse, towleroad

How the Bush administration muzzles the…: How the Bush administration muzzles the world’s top global warming scientist: “In my more than three decades in the government, I’ve never witnessed such restrictions on the ability of scientists to communicate with the public.”

(Via towleroad.)

A couple excerpts from the linked article at Think Progress:

CICERONE: I can’t think of anybody who I would say is better than Hansen. He might argue that there’s two or three others as good, but nobody better.

PELLEY: And Cicerone, who’s an atmospheric chemist, said the same thing that every leading scientist told us.

CICERONE: Climate change is really happening.

PELLEY: So what is causing the changes?

CICERONE: Well, the greenhouse gases. Carbon dioxide and methane and chloro fluoro carbons and a couple of others - which are all, the increases in their concentrations in the air are due to human activities. It’s that simple.

Every other leading scientist. There isn’t a controversy over global warming. Climate change is happening. If humanity is not the cause, we are at least a significant source of change. To stand by and do nothing is criminal, and Hansen is right to speak out. I think he probably feels that if he had not spoken out during this time, then when catastrophic change finally did occur, he would not be able to live with himself.

HANSEN: I find a willingness to listen only to those portions of scientific results that fit predetermined, inflexible positions. This, I believe, is a recipe for environmental disasters. [ . . . ]

HANSEN: And I object to the fact that I’m not able to freely communicate via the media. National Public Radio wanted to interview me, and they were told they would need to instead interview someone at NASA headquarters. And the comment was made that they didn’t want Jim Hansen going on the most liberal media in the nation.

Open exchange of scientific ideas has been one of the founding principles of the modern applied scientific method. Before the best minds kept their knowledge secret, and every generation had to begin anew. It’s difficult to know if this administration’s war on science at every level is done out of malice or merely willful ignorance. So far science has been resilient, but it cannot stay so forever.

Technorati Tags:
corruption, republicans, news, science, global warming, environment, politics, weather, NASA, James Hansen

That whole Domenech thing? I think it’s probably a tempest in a teapot. Honestly it seems like an awful lot of people got way involved in something that, ultimately, changes very little. Has the Washington Post learned its lesson? I doubt it, or they wouldn’t keep making the same mistake.

What’s the mistake? You don’t respond to criticisms by right-wing ideologues who say there exists a left-wing bias at the paper by hiring right-wing ideologues without implicitly admitting that you agree with the criticisms.

I think it’s pretty clear that the Washington Post does (or did) at least as good a job as any other major news organization following American journalistic standards for maintaining a relatively neutral voice in its reporting. No reporter is ever going to be able to completely remove his or her voice from a story, but I don’t think he or she should have to. Part of what draws readers to a media outlet is the voice collectively formed out of the individual reporters.

But the Post has been too quick to internalize these criticisms, so much so that they jump and overreact to the silliest criticisms by the right.

Froomkin may be critical of the White House, but merely being critical is not the same as being an ideologue or a partisan, something I think the Post has yet to learn. Michelle Malkin, and other conservatives on the Web, rightly criticizes and condemns Domenech’s behavior; yet no one in their right mind would immediately equate her criticism with left-wing partisanship.

Andy so, although I’ve read a fair number of stories and blogger posts on the Domenech affair these last couple of days, I don’t really think much of it is worth really talking about beyond what I’ve just said. However, the opinion piece linked below at the LA Times site is, I feel, one of the better bits of writing about the story from this week.

Web pulls apart a web - Los Angeles Times: The most interesting thing about this whole embarrassing incident has to do with the relative exercise of responsibility by the online journalists — and all prissy hand-wringing to the contrary, their number certainly includes independent bloggers — and the mainstream news media, in this case represented by the Post.

Even a casual reading of the facts demonstrates clearly that the online folks — whatever their ideology — performed pretty much as one would wish. In fact, they vindicated many of their medium’s claims to be a seedbed to communities of collaborative watchdogs, each building on the other’s work to shed light on an issue that engages them.

And, as anyone who’s ever owned one knows, the best watchdogs will bite, as well as bark.

(Via AMERICAblog.)

And this is, quite frankly, one of the best functions that the blogs can serve: the canary in the mine shaft, the watchdog barking at an intruder, the whistle-blower. There are other functions that blogging fulfills, of course, but in today’s world of thousands of available media streams, when people generally can come to feel overloaded with information, the blogs ability to perform dozens of mini-investigations within a broader subject and then reassemble the narrative in a coherent form is one of the most remarkable, and will probably be among the most influential and lasting.

Technorati Tags:
corruption, justice, politics, internet, Michelle Malkin, Ben Domenech, plagiarism, Red State, Washington Post, Dan Froomkin

They sing! They dance! They’re dead: Sometimes Austin gets too weird. Austin actor and photographer Dan Eggleston is helping make a zombie film called “Z: A Zombie Musical.”

(Via Austin American Statesman.)

This is proof that Austin is the Zombie Capital of the World, which is at least as valid a title as either “Live Music Capital of the World” or “The City of Ideas.” More proof?

Incidentally, former Mayors Jeff Friedman and Bruce Todd have agreed to appear in the film as zombies. Eggleston said Mayor Will Wynn has also agreed to perform, but Wynn did not respond to an e-mail question about that.

Eggleston explained the mayors’ parts: “It’s going to be three (maybe four) zombies holding directional signs by the side of the road.”

The Daily Texan confirmed today in their print edition that Wynn will be appearing, and had a picture of him in partial zombie makeup. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find the blurb or the picture online. They also report that Kirk Watson will have a separate cameo at another point in the film.

More? If you haven’t been watching American Idol (and I haven’t, but I read the news), Austin was the scene of a zombie flash mob at the Austin auditions for the show.

Zombies descend upon Erwin Center - Top Stories: Thursday outside the Frank Erwin Center, a horde of zombies attacked the “American Idol” auditions. No one was hurt. The zombies, 15 fake-bloodied actors in all, lurched out from under the IH-35 overpass and shuffled toward the Erwin Center, where they encountered the pop-star hopefuls

(Via The Daily Texan.)

Now c’mon, what other city has this?

Technorati Tags:
Austin, society, movies, zombies, Kirk Watson, Will Wynn

On the one hand, I’m glad to see this piece done; I think there are still many, many people in this country who will benefit from seeing perspectives that emphasize the biological nature of homosexuality (whether genetic or in utero hormone levels or a combination). And the article does offer some of that:

In case you missed the…: In case you missed the 60 Minutes Lesley Stahl piece on sexual orientation the other night, The Malcontent has a clip of it.

(Via towleroad.)

We have for instance the following:

Today, scientists are looking at genes, environment, brain structure and hormones. There is one area of consensus: that homosexuality involves more than just sexual behavior; it’s physiological.

But so much of the story is maddeningly, insufferably frustrating. So much of it is just plain ignorant. So much of it wants to equate homosexuality with femininity that it just . . . ruins, I think, the larger benefit that demonstrating homosexuality’s biological causes would have. Discussing two twins, one of whom is “normal” and the other who exhibits childhood gender nonconformity:

When Stahl came for a visit, Jared was eager to show her his G.I. Joe collection. “I have ones that say like Marine and SWAT. And then that’s where I keep all the guns for ‘em,” he explained.

Adam was also proud to show off his toys. “This is one of my dolls. Bratz baby,” he said.

Adam wears pinkish-purple nail polish, adorned with stars and diamonds.

[ . . .] Asked how he would describe himself to a stranger, Jared says, “I’m a kid who likes G.I. Joes and games and TV.”

“I would say like a girl,” Adam replied to the same question. When asked why he thinks that is, Adam shrugged.

Why? Why why why? Children who exhibit gender nonconformity might typically grow up to self-identify as gay later in life, but I don’t know that these children are typical gay children (and I suspect they aren’t). And certainly this case seems almost gratuitously extreme?

Let me be clear, I don’t have a problem with the child’s behavior. If Adam wants to wear pinkish-purple nail polish, more power to him. I think it’s fine; normal, probably not. But abnormal is not necessarily bad. What I have a problem with is this story’s insistence on using a case like this to speak to an audience that I think is probably not familiar with the subtle gradations of gender identity. I think the reaction to Adam is not going to be “a gay kid which the doctors on TV are saying has a biological basis for his behavior.” I think the reaction is going to be, “That kid wearing nail polish is a freak! No kid of mine is going to wear that stupid nail polish, or else!”

If this were the only instance, it might be OK; if it were balanced with another example more typical of most kids’ youths. Aside from the following:

“I was supposed to be a girl in my mom’s stomach. But my mom wished for all boys. So, I turned into a boy,” Adam explained.

Asked if he wished he was a girl, Adam nodded.

We have Stahl’s stunningly ignorant question later:

But Breedlove says he can change all that. He gave a female rat a single shot of the male sex hormone testosterone at birth. Now grown up, she will never perform lordosis [basically rat mating behavior].

But a male rat did. He was castrated at birth, depriving him of testosterone.

“So you created a gay rat?” Stahl asked.

“I wouldn’t say that these are gay rats. But I will say that these are genetic male rats who are showing much more feminine behavior,” he explained.

You’re damn right he didn’t create a gay rat by CASTRATING it!

Jesus.

Sorry. It just seems like one of the leading journalists in this country would understand the topic she was covering a bit better. That statement is practically offensive in its implications.

The story isn’t all bad though. This next bit is particularly good:

Ironically though, when it comes to their sex lives, he says gay and straight men actually have a lot in common.

“Straight men tend to be shallow in terms of focusing on looks. Gay men are shallow, too. Straight men are more interested than straight women in having casual, uncommitted sex. Gay men are like that, too,” says Bailey.

“One has the impression that gay men are much more inclined toward casual sex than straight men,” Stahl said.

“They’re just more successful at it, because the people they’re trying to have sex with are also interested in it,” Bailey explained.

“But don’t you find this interesting that the one big area where gay men are more like straight men is in sex? I mean, that is…both amusing and odd,” Stahl said.

“It suggests that whatever causes a man to be gay doesn’t make him feminine in every respect. There must be different parts of the brain that can be feminized independently from each other,” Bailey replied.

Shorter version: “Gay men are horny just like straight men, and the only reason they get to have more sex than straight men is that they’re horny with each other instead of with prudish women.” Ha! Although I guess if I were a woman, I would rightly be offended by that.

Finally, the story makes another good point: it’s nature vs. nurture. It’s biology vs. upbringing, and upbringing is losing:

“What it proves is it’s not completely genetic. They have the same genes,” says Bailey.

Asked if that brings us back to the mother and the father, Bailey says no.

“But that’s environment,” Stahl said.

“That’s environment. But that’s not the only environment. There’s also the environment that happens to us while we’re in the womb. And scientists are realizing that environment is much more important than we ever thought it was,” Bailey explained.

Technorati Tags:
science, politics, gay rights, society, children, parenting, homosexuality, 60 Minutes

Now this is kind of funny. Not funny in a way that makes one want to laugh, but . . . you know what I mean.

Associated Press: U.K.: Civil War in Iraq Not Inevitable: Iraq’s sectarian violence is worsening, but civil war is neither imminent nor inevitable, the visiting British defense secretary said Saturday.

(Via Forbes.com.)

But wait!

Iraq in civil war, says former PM: Iraq is in the midst of a civil war, the country’s former Prime Minister, Iyad Allawi, tells the BBC.

(Via BBC News Front Page.)

*SIgh*

Technorati Tags:
military, middle east, Iraq, civil war, UK, John Reid, Iyad Allawi

Newsvine - Robertson Finds Radical Muslims ‘Satanic’: Robertson’s Virginia Beach-based network did not include his remarks when it posted the program on its Web site, however. That decision was made out of concern Robertson’s remarks could be misinterpreted if viewed out of context, Watts said.

(Via Newsvine.com.)

I was talking to a friend who said this is the kind of material that John Stewart would just play, look into the camera with a blank expression, and say, “I got nothing.”

Really, if you want to know how not to sound like an idiot and a reactionary thug, in or out of context, it probably helps not to say things like: “the goal of Islam [ . . . ] whether you like it or not, is world domination.”

Yeah.

Technorati Tags:
terror, religion, middle east, Pat Robertson

Al Qaeda embraces Myspace.com.: ABC News reports that beginning in “early 2002, al Qaeda quickly switched to hiding its online operations within more legitimate bulletin boards and Internet sites offering free upload services or connecting through such popular social network sites as Orkut and MySpace.”

(Via Think Progress.)

I knew it! I knew MySpace was evil and must be destroyed! Selling out to Murdoch, contributing to spam and really, really horrible design. Embedded MIDI on the Internet had finally been allowed to die a quiet (blessedly quiet) death, only to be replaced by MySpace profiles with embedded MP3s!! I’ve been saying it for years now MySpace had to go. (Well, two years now.) And here is proof how dangerous they are!

However, for those of you who might be interested, you can add me here.

Technorati Tags:
terror, internet, Myspace.com, technology

Too many options dilute shared experience: Our community is fragmented because we don’t do things together the way we used to.

(Via Christian Science Monitor.)

A few weeks ago I was discussing with a friend how the Olympics didn’t really seem like a big deal anymore. Certainly, I hadn’t watched any of the coverage. But in a lot of ways this was really disappointing. When I was growing up in the early 80s, if the Olympics were on, everyone was watching.

Now this isn’t all a bad thing. The fragmentation of today’s media have allowed for some truly worthwhile work to be done that otherwise wouldn’t have been made. Tiny niches never filled before can be filled now. And these are all Good Things.

But the share experiences the article talks about seem to be missing somewhat. Or rather, they aren’t as shared as they used to be. A lot of my friends are heavily involved in the Internet, and collectively we tend to know about the latest Internet memes. We can discuss them and laugh about them together. But my parents rarely, if ever, do. However, there are different shared events that we have, that we can discuss and laugh over.

It’s not that shared experience is disappearing. It’s that it’s Balkanizing at the same rate as the media. Rather than all sharing in one of a few shared communities of interest, we now participate in dozens, communities that are more reflective of our varied personalities and various aspects of those personalities. So maybe this isn’t such a terrible thing.

I still miss the Olympics, though.

Technorati Tags:
Olympics, society

Apple To Drop Mac OS X In Favour Of Windows: “Ahhh, I’m perpetuating the machine! That John Dvorak may be whack, but he knows how to get a click. See? Here’s another one!“

(Via MacSlash.)

Back when I was like . . . 15, John Dvorak was sort of the “cool” PC Magazine columnist that I read, but really I much preferred some of the other writers. Dvorak can be a fun read, but he’s hard to take seriously. His latest schtick, now that Apple is not collapsing like it was supposed to, is that Apple is going to give up its software to run Windows. “Apple has always said it was a hardware company, not a software company.”

Balderdash.

If Apple is anything, it’s neither married to the concept of being a hardware nor a software company. Apple is concerned, as can be inferred from many of their public statements, with the total user experience. That’s why the Apple retail stores are so thoughtfully designed to showcase the Apple product specifically. That’s why Apple packaging is just so. That’s why the hardware is a joy to look at and the software is intimately married to that hardware, and that hardware alone.

Apple would no more move to Windows and abandon the Mac OS platform than they would keep the Mac OS and move to Dell hardware. Neither makes sense from the standpoint that Apple wants to maintain control of the user experience, both physical and cerebral.

The idea that Apple could develop a UI to overlay Windows is risible, for two main reasons. Does John not use Windows? One of the strengths of Apple’s OS right now is that it alone can claim to deliver the power of UNIX with the ease of a polished, consumer-grade front-end. Certainly Linux can’t, not yet.

UNIX is still greatly desirable. Despite a couple of recent proof-of-concept hacks, the platform is still largely free of malware developers interest. It’s still compatible, largely, with large numbers of programs and portions of code written for the scientific and academic communities.

And John ignores Microsoft’s role in this. Does it really suit MS’s interest, while arguing still with the EU over it’s status as a monopoly, to lose its one completely credible competitor? Not to mention that MS has a long, long history of allowing access to the OS for third-party developers. . . to a point, and no further. Apple definitely would not be happy with that arrangement.

So thanks, John. It’s a cute “What if?” scenario. But I’m not going to hold my breath, and neither should you.

Technorati Tags:
computers, Windows, software, Microsoft, Apple, technology, John Dvorak

I’ve been playing around with this newish site called Newsvine. It’s . . . hard to describe exactly what it is. It basically seems to have elements of LiveJournal, Plastic.com, and Wikipedia, all stirred into a stew of news-y goodness.

Or maybe it’s just a more cerebral Myspace.

Basically, one can submit their own articles to the site or “seed” articles they find elsewhere, which includes a link and your own comments. Unlike Plastic, there’s no submission queue; your story is immediately available. Whether or not your story treads water at the top level of story submissions or sinks faster than lead to Newsvine oblivion depends on other users reading the story and voting for it. You’re helped by Newsvine’s extensive tagging system, which makes it fairly easy to find a story on a particular topic.

Anyway, an example of one of their user-submitted original stories that struck me as interesting was this:

Newsvine - The A-list blogs rule — or do they?: “Despite being down with the flu today, I happened across the article in New York Magazine titled Blogs to Riches: The Haves and Have-Notes of the Blogging Boom. It’s a terrific article explaining the network effects that drive the A-list, B-list, and C-list blogging phenomenon, and why, in this most democratic of journalistic media, hierarchies have developed.”

(Via Newsvine.)

Let’s face it; I have no illusions of being even a C-list blog. I’m doing it because I like to do it. It’s nice to have an excuse to browse the week’s news, and post my thoughts about them. I do it publicly because I’m an Internet citizen of the past 10+ years, and . . . honestly, it wouldn’t make sense not to.

Any audience I manage to reach as a result of this is nice (very, very nice), but ultimately incidental. I can’t really imagine pimping my blog much more than the few random comments I leave in blogs I already read regularly anyway. I’m not the world’s most social person by any means; pimping just isn’t my style.

So the A-list, B-list, C-list paradigm seems, to me, to leave out a pretty important component of the blogging world: namely the hobbyist blogger. Sure there are plenty of blogs that go for audience, but there are just as many (if not many, many, many times more) that are set up by people merely as an outlet for themselves.

Are they a part of the hierarchy? I don’t really know. Clearly, they’re a part of the blogging universe, but it’s kind of hard to rank a player who isn’t playing the game.

Technorati Tags:
recommendations, internet, Myspace.com, Wikipedia, technology, LiveJournal, Newsvine, blogging