Some great stories in the Post today, including Mike Wise’s great write up on sports blogs. Wise discusses the successful efforts of Curt Schilling’s 38 Pitches, Kobe Bryant’s KB24, and Gilbert Arenas’ Agent Zero. The tongue-in-cheek conclusion:
The battle is over. They now have the pen. We’re flat-out dispensable.
Though Wise makes fun of these diaries and their often self-bolstering spin, the underlying fear and concern is clear: “The flacks and hacks have been edited out.” Yes, we’re all required to be more accountable these days, aren’t we? Though Mike says bloggers are so self-important, it’s interesting to see why the media’s found the battle to be so tough. Is it because they have become so myopic and pointed that they’ve lost objectivity?
The extra voices are good. Even better, the new found media forces accountability for all parties (See Steve Rubel post) – including journalists. Journalists that have an objective point of view are needed. Great publications and journalists have the ability to separate the wheat from the chaffe. The ones who can’t be objective or offer some valuable insights will likely fade to black. And rightly so.
[...] One week later, and another strange, but delightful air travel experience. This time my neighbor on jetBlue’s 9 p.m.flight to Oakland was Agent Zero, Gilbert Arenas. Very cool, especially since he was referenced in a recent blog post! [...]