via
Political Wire, this
Kennedy School of Govt case study (warning pdf file) on the symbiosis between blogs, and big media.
It's a blow by blow coverage of the Lott affair from the point of view of the journalists at the event (kudos to ABC's Ed O'Keefe), their editors, and their colleagues. Then they shift to the 'sphere with quotes by Winer, Josh Marshall, Atrios, and Reynolds (from Instapundit).
Very, very well researched, and quite illuminating. It has a pretty annoying DO NOT COPY watermark, and its about 20 pages long, but very much worth the read.
Somewhat devastating description of how traditional media works. Nothing too new, but interesting in the mechanics of the failures that we all are aware of. It also gave me the feeling that it does matter what happens here in the blogosphere. Big media journalists do peruse blogs, and we can originate memes, as well as keep them alive. A true memepool.