Open The Conversation

I thought I might get out the door and crunch my way through the crusty Boston snow to the library this morning, until I read Doc's blog, which stopped me dead in my tracks. As for Bloggers v. Journalists, aren't we talking about power?

Just as we were brainwashed into believing the Captains of Industry knew how the hell to run a business (pre-1990's), before the Web undermined that illusion - yes, links do subvert hierarchy - Bloggers challenge the notion most Journalists hold near and dear, i.e., that they are only "objective" writers, when in fact, they are mostly "elitist."

We've learned in the last ten years that sometimes a guy with an MBA from HBS can be an elitist, narrow-minded chicken shit, compared to some brave, bold, creative, "mongrel" entrepreneurs. This fundamentally changed the balance of money, power and influence in business.

Now we're watching Bloggers create a new narrative worldview that is essentially "open source" and has as its main intent -- empowering and education others. Much traditional Journalism seems to have as its main intent -- grabbing power, establishing status, dominating a conversation and denigrating others.

Bloggers have the potential to devalue the stranglehold Journalists have on a worldview. This is about power. This is about changing the game. Or changing the way the game is reported. Journalists don't need to take their worldview and go home, they just need to shove over and give Bloggers some room on the bench.