Sunday, April 03, 2005

Jenny D On Journalism

Thanks to PressThink for blogrolling and pointing out this excellent blogger, JennyD. Read this in full here and an excerpt below:
I think where I mean to go with all this is here--the power of old media was in the exclusive, capital-intensive packaging and distribution of content. But the web has made it easier for anyone to package and put out content. What hasn't changed, though, is that distribution channels are still valuable and controlled by a few.

What do I mean by that? Distribution in old media were broadcast frequencies (channels) or newsstands and paperboys who actually put news on your doorstep. But how do you get your blog read?

I don't know how it was in the "early" days, but now there are a 100 or so widely read blogs (and the exact number of "hits" they get seems to be rather closely guarded secret--I haven't see Instapundit, or Buzzmachine, or Powerline post their hit counts for the day). Clearly, though, these guys are getting read, and if you want to get read yourself, you have to get them to link to you. Then you have to write stuff people want to read. But undoubtedly, if distribution on the web means getting your blog read, then some folks have more distribution than others.

If the guys with the corner on distribution claim to be on the side of citizens media, do they have an obligation to open their distribution to a wide variety of voice?