MEDIA VS. BLOGOSPHERE
Via InstaPundit, I see Jeff Jarvis again baffled about the mainstream media–which he has covered professionally for a good number of years:
The blogosphere’s news judgment is evident on Blogdex and it’s not the news judgment you’ll see on major news sites. On Blogdex right now, the top two stories are about Iran. Elsewhere (on the BBC or on Google News, for example), you won’t find Iran on the front page.
Blogdex reflects the news judgment of the audience. It reflects the news the audience cares about. The two should not disagree. But they do.
As I noted in his comments section, though, it strikes me as quite plausible that the audiences are different? People who maintain weblogs and comment on the news–let alone foreign policy news–are almost certainly interested in different things than those who simply watch the news.
I enjoy blogging, but I can also see that weblogs are a rather incestuous forum, with a few top weblogs determining the conversation, and other weblogs linking and commenting.
Weblogs are like having a conversation in a group. You come into the room, others are talking about a subject (Iran) and you enter the conversation. Weblogs create a snowball effect. Just because Iran is the top topic in the Blogosphere doesn’t mean that it DESERVES, ipso facto, to be the top story in main stream media.
Almost by definition, bloggers are going to be higher than average intelligence, interested in philosophical debate, and concerned about theoretical values. To expect the Great Unwashed public to give the same importance to issues that the Blogosphere does is just another form of elitism. Haven’t we had enough of that already?
Then again, I can’t understand why Scott & Laci Peterson are so attractive to Cable News. Did someone throw a dart and decided this particular crime won the “let’s exploit crime and rush to judgement” lottery? But I guess some people care.
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