Why I Blog—Part II

(Part I is here.)
The mandarins of the Mainstream Media like to debunk blogs as superficial at best, trashy at worst. But properly deployed, a blogger’s cards can trump the more traditional players at their own game. Here are a few tricks that nimble CultureGrrl of the Blogosphere can execute but that plodding Rosenbaum of the Mainstream Media can’t:
—Link to primary source documents: Reporters can briefly summarize reports and allude to the contents of documents or statements that may be available in full on websites. With a click on my links, visitors to my site can read the whole thing. Even newspapers’ websites frequently fail to provide their readers with such resources.
—Relentless follow-up: If someone says he intends to do something by a certain date, I can keep him honest. Traditional reporters, who need more substantial rationales for follow-up articles, often drop the ball. I can run a small item to update a story.
—Provide early-warning signals: Newspapers usually report trends that have already happened. I can spot early indicators and flag them.
—Scoop the slowpokes: Sometimes reporters do get things into the paper (or at least onto its website) right away; often they don’t. My speed of publication is limited by how fast I can type.
—Guide the debate: Because my opinion is prompt, pointed and (I hope) respected, I can influence the deliberations of slower, more widely read opinionmakers.
—Hone my own voice: I believe my writing has improved since I started blogging—first, because I’m constantly writing; second, because I’m free to be more inventive and colorful (and occasionally off-color), without worrying about the tone-it-down sensibilities of editors. I have a penchant (if not a talent) for wordplay. Now I can indulge it.
What I can’t do, alas, is make money: Nobody pays me to blog. While some established practitioners do profit handsomely, newcomers need to build audience before they can build ad sales or other forms of support. Although I enjoy knowing that an elite group of artworld movers and shakers, as well as members of the general art audience, read me regularly, my labor-intensive blog is, financially, a slog.
As for Linda Greenhouse (mentioned in my previous post), I hope she keeps writing for the NY Times, despite the fact that she has now outted her own political views. A new assignment as an Op-Ed columnist would be the appropriate form of discipline for the crime of opinion-mongering. After all, Maureen Dowd could definitely use some female companionship!