Bloggers v. Journalists

There was one point in Jay Rosen's article "Bloggers v. Journalists is Over" that really struck me and I just wanted to quickly comment on it. On page eight he quotes Andrew Sullivan saying "They [blog readers] were hungry for communication, for checking their gut against someone they had come to know, for emotional support and psychological bonding." I don't exactly know why but this quote just really got me. I realized how true it is for me as a blog reader. I do not follow many blogs on a regular basis but I can tell you I was captured by blogs on one very specific occasion and for very particular reasons. When New Orleans was destroyed in Hurricane Katrina I felt somehow cheated by the mainstream media's reporting of the events. I think the thing that really bothered me was the black v. white looting/finding dialogue that became a constant. So I turned to blog reports and I was amazed at how many first hand stories and analysis I was able to find. But I wasn't looking for statistics in those blogs - I was looking for stories, for meaning and to make my own personal sense of the events. I really liked this one quote and I definitely think that Mr. Sullivan made a great point.