A NY Times
Sunday magazine article has our favorite blogger front and center in a story about the emerging media that is us. There are plenty of folks who haven't tuned in yet... recent surveys suggest only 5% or so of voters at that time were on line and reading the stories the media dumbed down or skipped over altogether. The recent events at CBS have gotten everyone's attention, however, especially in the traditional media. Here's a blow-by-blow of what you and we do every day:
Moulitsas pulled a 149-word story off nytimes.com linking Robert Novak, the conservative columnist, to ''Unfit for Command,'' the book that attacked John Kerry's service in Vietnam; the article revealed that Novak's son is the marketing director for the book's publisher, Regnery. Moulitsas copied and pasted the story, wrote ''Novak blows another one'' at the top and clicked Submit. A couple of seconds later, the item appeared on Daily Kos, and his hundreds of thousands of readers began to take note, many of them posting their own fevered thoughts in response. Moulitsas read some e-mail messages and surfed around, trying to think of the next rotten thing to say about the right. Beside him, around the same time, Atrios was assembling a few words about Ed Schrock, a conservative Republican congressman vocal in his disavowal of the rights of gays, who had now been accused of soliciting gay love. A Web site dedicated to exposing closeted antigay politicians had posted an audio clip of what they said was Schrock's voice, and he had pulled out of the race. A pizza-stained paper plate sat between Moulitsas and Atrios. Together, they have more readers than The Philadelphia Inquirer.
A year ago, no one other than campaign staffs and chronic insomniacs read political blogs.
The story is the new medium, not just Kos and Atrios and JMM and the rest. But you gotta love this:
Moulitsas's site, Daily Kos, teems with information -- sophisticated analysis of poll numbers, crystal-ball babble, links to Senate, House and governor ''outlook charts.'' But what pulls you in is not the data; it's his voice. He's cruel and superior, and he knows his side is going to win.
And, damn, if they didn't nail that one (not the cruel part... the part about winning). This is like reading People magazine for bloggers:
The Wonkette is more fun to read than Daily Kos. She's also more fun to hang out with. Before we went off to the fabulous party that Americans for Tax Reform were throwing at the New York Yacht Club on Monday night, we had time for an expensive dinner at a really nice restaurant in SoHo. Wonkette hadn't been anywhere near the Tank, and when I told her about the scene there, she laughed. ''They've got the raw carrots and radishes,'' she said, ''and we've got the raw tuna appetizer.'' The candlelight reflected off the Champagne bubbles in her glass. ''Other bloggers don't consider me a real blogger,'' she said. ''Kos is the platonic ideal of a blogger: he posts all the time; he interacts with his readers.'' She swallowed an oyster and smiled. ''I hate all that.''
Enjoy the light-hearted treatment, but there's serious stuff going on. Long article; give it a read. Then roll up your sleeves and get to work.