More Tech-Driven Threats to Mainstream Media

Rob, We've had quite a bit of back-and-forth on this subject at blogspotting. I think it's pretty clear that both sides, bloggers and mainstream media, feel challenged. MSM by the new model and all the newcomers. And bloggers feel fret that interlopers like us are going to turn this grand laboratory into an extension of our own world. I think that there's going to be a merging of the two worlds. We'll become much bloggier and more interactive. Leading blogs will settle on news standards and give advertisers a steady product they can bank on. On the fringe there will always be purists who denounce bloggers who go mainsteam. But they shouldn't worry, because given the expanse of the blog world, this mainstream will never dominate news coverage the way it has in the past.

The kind of access and ubiquity the Phil Wiser describes will clearly be disruptive to mainstream media. But it also means that each of us will have to do a lot more filtering as we sort out what sources to believe, which ones to pay attention to, and which ones to block out.

I'm worried that this new world of information overload could lead to more splintering of our fragile society - and business world - than we already have. How will we know what's *really* going on? Or who to believe?

I mean, it is indeed pretty nifty that we can all stay so "in touch" with the world, and have our news feeders pulling in the stories we need to know about. As a relative newcomer to the blogging and news aggregator world, I am thoroughly enjoying having the stories I want to know about just showing up on my desktop. But if there's little overlap between what you pay attention to and what I read, what will we talk to each other about?

Sure, there's power and creative potential in having each of us paying attention to different parts of the great big chaotic world out there, but there's also increased risk of confusion, misunderstanding, and just plain different views of "reality."

Yes, I think bloggers and journalists each have a lot to learn from each other. I don't know that there will be a full merging, since each has distinct qualities that are probably worth keeping distinct. Instead, I think there will be (not to sound too suggestive) an exchange of DNA. I think one of the key things to watch will be what new kinds of filters emerge beyond the ones that mainstream journalists have been. Because already, we're seeing a need for some way to get a handle on the infoglut.