Despite increasing evidence that people like David Brooks and Tom Friedman are simply fools, with bad judgement and no predictive powers, whose writing is demonstrably inferior to that of dozens of unpaid bloggers, the time-warp culture of the newspaper industry keeps worthless pundits on their prominent thrones. They do this because a newspaper pundit has a BRAND FRANCHISE. Brands are a consumer substitute for information. One reaches for a bottle of Heinz ketchup because one cannot readily determine the quality of the competing ketchups. Similarly, newspaper pundits are read because they were once presumed to be reliable sources of good information. Now that the blogosphere is widely accessible, the alternatives to the mediocre pundit brands are abundantly available. In short, these brands are becoming worthless, but the newspapers keep selling them.
How can pundits be defranchised? Here are some suggested measures:
- Keep track of pundit stupidity and report it regularly. The public editors of major newspapers may not be able to fire pundits, but they are inside voices that can communicate public dissatisfaction.
- Email idiot pundits whenever they say something false or stupid. Most of these writers are accessible via email. I doubt that their conceit permits them to read general email, but they may react to volume.
- Mention incompetent pundits by name whenever possible in critical blog postings. That way, google searches will capture criticisms.
- Email newspaper editors and recommend the top bloggers as alternatives to their existing mediocre pundits.
- Email electronic media whenever they choose newspaper pundits for commentary, asking why blog voices are not represented.
The Blogoshpere is going to eliminate the franchises of the newspaper pundits. We should do all we can to accelerate the process.