The New Media--

which makes me a new local paper, I guess.... from Patterico's, I was directed to a post by Michelle Malkin-- no, I don't follow her blog, it annoys me and I'm not sure why-- that shows independent reporting done by bloggers. Look, I've done a fair bit of reporting here on my little ol' scribble-blog. Just hearing something, looking into it, and posting the information you heard with further information is above and beyond most newspapers. (I annoy the heck out of Elfie by constantly referring to "the AP reports this" or "the AP reports that" when I read a story and note it's a reprint from the Associated Press. Hey, the game is fun! Next time you read a paper, take note of how many stories are essentially blog-posts that copy and paste interesting stories, sometimes with a few comments. Those are very useful, and if you find one you like, promote them!) Every blogger who reports on his kids' science project, every blogger who reports on an information source being edited, every person who reads foreign languages and reports on what they are not seeing in English is doing what local papers have done for years-- sometimes, they're even doing it better. Hey, is there a newspaper for cute pictures and video? How about one written from the persona of a (rather attractive) house cat? A Marine "Wollf"? No, blogs don't usually have the budget of, say, the New York Times. They also don't have the overhead--most blog-work is done for free. This is a fairly new thing, since the entry-level cost of writing and the distribution cost of publishing and the time available for both have all gone way, way down from when my folks were kids, let alone when my grandparents where my age. As Arhyalon has commented, folks in Olden Days apparently didn't Role Play. Small wonder old media gets snarky about blogs-- on one side, they have radio, which is much better at verbal persuasion; on the other, they have cheap writing with moving pictures, which is them-- but shinier, and for free. UPDATE: Pursuing Holiness has more to add!