Reflections on New Media and Old

These are turbulent times for those who seek to preserve the despotic reign of corporate-controlled media outlets from conquest by the insurgent blogosphere. The emergence of the blogosphere as a powerful force has old mainstream media struggling to keep up its ratings.
The distinguishing difference between the old and new media is that new media has no restrictions on what is "fit to print". Unlike old media there are no editors to please, and no accepted rules of etiquette to which one must conform. It is this very fact that makes it impossible to generalize accurately about blogs, and indeed blogs range greatly in content and style. Nonetheless, a writing form that thrives in the unfettered blog atmospere is the unrestrained rant. As an obviously-not-necessarily-representative example, I chose the following because it is not only passionate but also because it is an example of New Media's self-confidence in taking on an old media icon. From Markos "Kos" Moulitsas, editor of the liberal blog dailykos.com, about the long-standing liberal journal The New Republic:

"If you still hold a subscription to that magazine, it really is time to call it
quits. If you see it in a magazine rack, you might as well move it behind the
National Review or even NewsMax, since that's who they want to be associated
with these days."

Kos's attack on the New Republic however goes beyond their
specific policy differences (of which there are many). In his telling the New Republic is fighting back against the all powerful blogosphere:

"It is now beyond clear that the dying New Republic is mortally wounded and cornered, desperate for relevance. It has lost half its circulation since the blogs arrived on the scene and they no longer (thank heavens!) have a monopoly on progressive punditry."

This is not a judgement of Kos's grievances against the magazine. It is an observation on the level of passion in the argument, which I think is not usually found in the mainstream media.

Meanwhile, the mainstream media is racing to catch up with this phenomenon, which may be the source of blog popularity. The Wall Street Journal reports :

"The proliferation of pundits in the last half-decade has been fueled by 24-hour
cable news networks, which are built in part on the relatively cheap framework
of heated discussions. And as the rise of blogging has given anyone with an
opinion a public platform, more newcomers are joining the fray…
Mr. Kedrosky, 40, has learned to take clear positions. Many of his fellow [aspiring
pundits] have "too many hands," he says. "They're always saying, 'On the one
hand, on the other hand.' " As he sees it, punditry is "like pounding a volleyball back and forth. You just have to remember which side of the net you're on. If you all stand on the same side, you don't have a game."

And this:

"In the wake of North Korea's recent nuclear test, a hawkish Ms. Schlussel hit the radio circuit, saying U.S. officials responded too mildly in calling the test "a provocative act." "A Paris Hilton video is a provocative act," she said. "What North Korea did was an act of war." To get noticed, Ms. Schlussel says, "I've become the master of the confrontational sound bite."

Bloggers eager to get their message to a new audience combined with the demand for strong-minded, opinionated bloggers on mainstream media talkshows, has led to blogger seminars on how to best get their message across while on TV. The following is from National Review Online:

"And the guests those producers and bookers are looking for at the moment are…bloggers.“There’s a premium on bloggers now,” said Trainer 1. “There is a window following this conference to try to make yourselves available to the media…You are the new cool kids on the block, and you should leverage that now.” Near the end of the session, one woman said she doubted she could be effective on television, because her feelings about some political issues were just too passionate; she had once cursed at a reporter who asked her about Iraq. Passion is a good thing, her fellow bloggers told her. “I quit a tenure-track job because of political fights,” said one sympathetic teacher. Everyone agreed that the woman should speak out."