Monday, September 1, 2008

Blogs - taking their place in the mainstream?

A recent article in the Australian Financial Review (Review section, pages 9-10, 29 August 08, 'Attention grabber with legal byte', by Andrew Keen) suggests that blogs are definitely taking their place in the mainstream world of journalism.
Keen discusses Ariana Huffington, a Greek-born American who in May 2005 launched the Huffington Post (HuffPost), a 'progressive news blog'. Contributors include Huffington's 'hand-picked network of celebrities and experts'. Most 'content is produced by unpaid contributors', many of them celebrities who gain by the exposure, so costs are low - there is a small number of paid staff, but nothing like the number employed by traditional news media. And these contributors' work is rarely edited - which saves on costs as well. Visits to the site are increasing, in comparison to traditional news media that aren't doing so well in the online world. But is it quality journalism?

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