Blog
Author: Hugh Hewitt
ISBN: 0-7852-1187-X
Publisher: Nelson Books
Review:
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If you are reading this review, chances are you have heard about the blogosphere. The blogosphere is a corner of cyberspace which is exponentially expanding. Blog is short for weblog, which is essentially an online diary, with the twist that it is meant to be read by others. The most successful blogs aren't your typical housewife-at-home daily list of things accomplished. Instead, they are political pundits, industry analysts and celebrities. One of the more successful bloggers (one who blogs), Hugh Hewitt, is the author of Blog. He is a radio talkshow personality who has leveraged his radio presence into the blogosphere and currently has a wide readership base.
Hewitt contends that the main stream media (MSM) such as the major daily papers, TV news broadcasters, and even flagship web sites such as CNN.com are being threatened, and may even be forced to change based on blogs. The reason Hewitt gives for this is all about accountability. Most news organizations exist for profit, and their accountability has historical been somewhat lacking. Most people realize that any given story in the news is probably factually suspect and perhaps even intentionally misleading.
The power of a blog with a sustained, large readership to bring these news organizations to task on their accuracy, partisanship, or blatant fiction has been demonstrated in several recent events. Hewitt shows how Senator Trent Lott, anchorman Dan Rather, and even presidential candidate John Kerry were all affected by the power of the blogosphere. According to Hewitt, instead of one or two editors vetting the news within a news organization, there are thousands of editors out in the blogosphere to give notice of error or inaccuracy. It may even go so far, as in the case of Trent Lott, that a story intentionally ignored by the MSM, may be picked up by the blogosphere and widely disseminated to the point where the MSM is forced to cover it.
Once a story picks up speed in the blogosphere Hewitt declares that it morphs into a blog swarm. If the story is hot it will be carried all over the blogosphere potentially in a matter of hours, giving many individuals the chance to read and perhaps even voice their own opinions. Such is the case of Dan Rather's story on the Bush memo. It was only in the educated and responsive readership of the blogs that textual experts started to come forward and declare the memo an obvious fake.
It may be much ado about nothing, but Hewitt makes a compelling case that every organization, whether it be a large corporation or a local church, needs to jump into the blogosphere and make their presence known. It provides an excellent platform for an organization to display its services, answer its critics, and provoke discussion about its core competencies.
As far as the book itself, the first half was quite interesting, especially the description of the major public events incited by the blogosphere. The last half was actually quite boring. Hewitt isn't the greatest writer, and frequently repeats his thoughts. It is obvious that this book was an off-the-cuff publicity generator for the blogosphere, but admittedly it is timely. I don't believe that MSM is going to "melt-down". They are far too entrenched for that. But I don't disagree that over time, more and more individuals are going to get turned off by the propaganda and will undoubtedly start looking for more trustworthy news sources.
For anyone who wants to know the power of the blogosphere this book is a good introduction. For anyone who doesn't know how to turn on a computer, this book is probably a bad idea. To get an idea of the variety of the blogs out there, visit Hewitts blog at www.hughhewitt.com and check out his favorite blogs.
ISBN: 0-7852-1187-X
Publisher: Nelson Books
Review:
--------------
If you are reading this review, chances are you have heard about the blogosphere. The blogosphere is a corner of cyberspace which is exponentially expanding. Blog is short for weblog, which is essentially an online diary, with the twist that it is meant to be read by others. The most successful blogs aren't your typical housewife-at-home daily list of things accomplished. Instead, they are political pundits, industry analysts and celebrities. One of the more successful bloggers (one who blogs), Hugh Hewitt, is the author of Blog. He is a radio talkshow personality who has leveraged his radio presence into the blogosphere and currently has a wide readership base.
Hewitt contends that the main stream media (MSM) such as the major daily papers, TV news broadcasters, and even flagship web sites such as CNN.com are being threatened, and may even be forced to change based on blogs. The reason Hewitt gives for this is all about accountability. Most news organizations exist for profit, and their accountability has historical been somewhat lacking. Most people realize that any given story in the news is probably factually suspect and perhaps even intentionally misleading.
The power of a blog with a sustained, large readership to bring these news organizations to task on their accuracy, partisanship, or blatant fiction has been demonstrated in several recent events. Hewitt shows how Senator Trent Lott, anchorman Dan Rather, and even presidential candidate John Kerry were all affected by the power of the blogosphere. According to Hewitt, instead of one or two editors vetting the news within a news organization, there are thousands of editors out in the blogosphere to give notice of error or inaccuracy. It may even go so far, as in the case of Trent Lott, that a story intentionally ignored by the MSM, may be picked up by the blogosphere and widely disseminated to the point where the MSM is forced to cover it.
Once a story picks up speed in the blogosphere Hewitt declares that it morphs into a blog swarm. If the story is hot it will be carried all over the blogosphere potentially in a matter of hours, giving many individuals the chance to read and perhaps even voice their own opinions. Such is the case of Dan Rather's story on the Bush memo. It was only in the educated and responsive readership of the blogs that textual experts started to come forward and declare the memo an obvious fake.
It may be much ado about nothing, but Hewitt makes a compelling case that every organization, whether it be a large corporation or a local church, needs to jump into the blogosphere and make their presence known. It provides an excellent platform for an organization to display its services, answer its critics, and provoke discussion about its core competencies.
As far as the book itself, the first half was quite interesting, especially the description of the major public events incited by the blogosphere. The last half was actually quite boring. Hewitt isn't the greatest writer, and frequently repeats his thoughts. It is obvious that this book was an off-the-cuff publicity generator for the blogosphere, but admittedly it is timely. I don't believe that MSM is going to "melt-down". They are far too entrenched for that. But I don't disagree that over time, more and more individuals are going to get turned off by the propaganda and will undoubtedly start looking for more trustworthy news sources.
For anyone who wants to know the power of the blogosphere this book is a good introduction. For anyone who doesn't know how to turn on a computer, this book is probably a bad idea. To get an idea of the variety of the blogs out there, visit Hewitts blog at www.hughhewitt.com and check out his favorite blogs.
posted by The Inkling | 12:19 PM
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