From the article, about Matt Drudge:

"One can't expect a cyber-cowboy to match the standards that apply to a Dan Rather! "

Snort, giggle, snort...

That said, he's wrong. Bloggers, like Martha Stewart, are their own brand. You don't have the masthead of a newspaper to hide behind--it's only your own reputation on the line. A certain amount of marketing is necessary.
See-Dubya | 03.07.05 - 3:07 pm | #

Three words:

More. Glamour. Photos.

I especially liked the one that accompanied "Hair Today, Dawn Tomorrow"
jquinby | Homepage | 03.07.05 - 3:09 pm | #

What we need now is a critical mass of citizen cyber-reporters...

What we don't need now is people who misuse "buzzwords" like "critical mass" teaching writing.
Saint Kansas | Homepage | 03.07.05 - 3:20 pm | #

Well, now I'll know to whom to direct those little green men when they ask to be taken to my leader.
Angus | Homepage | 03.07.05 - 3:40 pm | #

"What do you want to be when you grow up?"

"A glamourous iconoclast."

Now that's something to aspire to. (Yeah, I know, prepositions are not properly used to end sentences with.)
CGHill | Homepage | 03.07.05 - 4:21 pm | #

Deriding bloggers because they are not good journalists is like deriding novelists for not being better poets, or complaining that the local Baptist preacher doesn't include a formal epiclesis in his worship service. It's different medium. Hanson seems to misunderstand what's going on. Sure, some bloggers have a pretense of journalism. Other bloggers keep a diary or journal. Others do some of both, and from day to day you don't know what you'll get at a given blog. All of life does not consist of just one kind of conversation.
Dennis | Homepage | 03.07.05 - 4:59 pm | #

This guy obviously doesn't know what the word "iconoclast" means.
He needs to study the language.
A true iconoclast would have NO PICTURES!
Our culture sadly confuses icons and idols. It is good to destroy the idols of sexual promiscuity, for example. It is also good to elevate the icons of purity and chastity.
No, Dawn, you aren't an iconoclast, you are an idol smasher.
alicia | Homepage | 03.07.05 - 5:43 pm | #

Dawn Eden, neo-conservative?! I think I can safely say that all traces of meaning have been evacuated from that term and it's safe, nay desirable, to discard the empty husk.

Other than that, what Dennis said. Hanson's piece kind of makes me think of "Ballad of a Thin Man."
Maclin Horton | Homepage | 03.07.05 - 6:07 pm | #

The pot calling the kettle black (IMHO).
Jeff | Homepage | 03.07.05 - 6:24 pm | #

Dear Dawn:

That's a badge to wear with pride:
"iconoclastic neoconservative petite powerhouse". Time to do a Michelle Malkin on on this one: "The exploits of Dawn Eden...iconclastic neoconservative petite powerhouse".

Cheers,
Bruce | Homepage | 03.07.05 - 6:27 pm | #

Wow, Alicia, what a great response. Thank you--and thanks muchly to everyone else who's commented too.

Maclin, your "Ballad of a Thin Man" comment is spot on. Here are the song's lyrics in case anyone's not familiar with it.
Dawn Eden | Homepage | 03.07.05 - 6:34 pm | #

A quick salute to jquinby. You had the nerve to say it! ;-D

...no substitute for mainstream journalism, despite its flaws"

...which are primarily the ones he's attributing to bloggers: like being "...too skewed by ideology to put factual accuracy front and center."

Some time when he's not too busy writing op-eds for the Sun, Mr. Hanson should have a chat with his colleagues in the Psychology Department. They can explain what "projection" means to him.
P.R. | 03.07.05 - 7:04 pm | #

Substitute bloggers with "Main Stream reporters" and it makes his sentence more accurate.

"A great many MAIN STREAM REPORTERS are either too self-absorbed to focus on keeping the public informed or too skewed by ideology to put factual accuracy front and center."
Jeff Miller | Homepage | 03.07.05 - 9:42 pm | #

I visited The Baltimore Sun and was unimpressed. Christopher Hanson I found, yes. But where the heck is H.L. Mencken?
npetrikov | Homepage | 03.07.05 - 9:53 pm | #

If this be a wilderness of self-absorption, I never want to go back to the town.

Mr. Hanson, some advice in the form of a quote from Napoleon Dynamite: "Now, make a fist. Slowly ease it up underneath your chin...This is looking really good..."
Joel | Homepage | 03.07.05 - 11:53 pm | #

You're famous, Dawn! AGAIN!
Wes | Homepage | 03.08.05 - 2:43 am | #

Maclin. Right,er, correct. It has gone from "conservative and Jewish" down to "conservative I dislike".
In the recent uproar about a Buckley column, I saw self-defined "real" conservatives in the blogosphere comentariat denounce him as a "liberatarian" (which would surprise all the libertarians I know) AND a "neoconservative", which is a neat trick.

I would recall a Buckley exchange with an assailant about the whereabouts of H.L. Mencken, but that would probably get my comment deleted.
Will | Homepage | 03.08.05 - 12:35 pm | #

A light shines in a dark world of fear, hate and death. It is not a light hidden under a basket. It is a light placed upon the basket so that all might know the truth.

A single word of truth spoken in darkness can light the entire world! Perhaps the "Legit Media" fears that single word of truth. Perhaps the "Legit Media" fears the thought that the average individual with an opinion that differs from the opinion of the "Legit Media" can shine the light of truth on the world by typing a few words and hitting a small cyber button which says "OK" and post that light of truth to the entire world.

Perhaps Danny Boy is out of a news media job today because of that little word known as blog. Shine on bloggers. Perhaps the world is learning the truth about the agenda of P.P.H. because of the people who blog. Perhaps the cold heartless murder of a woman in Fla. will be exposed for what it really is, a cold heartless murder, because of a litle venue known as The Dawn Patrol. Rock on Dawn! Shine on little light. Shine light on the dark world of fear and hate.
Michael | Homepage | 03.08.05 - 12:43 pm | #

Can Mr. Hanson still make fun of you if you have a 9-to-5 job? Or did he somehow overlook your well-publicized former job as Copy Editor to the Stars?

I find the second more likely; after all, he overlooked that the blogs ARE a critical mass of citizen cyber-reporters.

PS:

(Yeah, I know, prepositions are not properly used to end sentences with.)" CGHill

"That is the sort of arrant pedantry up with which I shall not put." Winston Churchill
Nightfly | Homepage | 03.08.05 - 2:10 pm | #

"Old Media folk"... LOL! He certainly seems intimidated by bloggers, you in particular- keep up the good work :)
Faith | 03.08.05 - 2:57 pm | #

So who, pray tell, is the leader of this Hunter S. Thompson-loving crew of "I Bloggers"?

Me.

Hunter once said (he musta a been totally drunk and stoned and hallucinating) that he liked my writing.

Don't Trust Any One Under 60
M. Simon | Homepage | 03.08.05 - 8:16 pm | #

One word: Bwa-hah!

Oops, that's two.
Margaret Davis | 03.09.05 - 10:34 pm | #

"Calling blogging 'no substitute for mainstream journalism, despite its flaws...'"

Nice misdirection, there, Mr. Hanson. The only people bleating about blogs attempting to "substitute" for mainstream journalism are the mainstream journalists who have been coasting on the automatic regard their positions get, and are now feeling threatened because they can no longer avoid the fact that there are "amateurs" out there who not only write better than they do, but don't care what "the mainstream" thinks about it. I'm not even going to bother with the rest of the article.
Andrea Harris | Homepage | 03.09.05 - 10:52 pm | #

It is mainstream propaganda,disguised as journalism,that has me blog hopping for the truth,and I will keep on seeking, no matter who gets a bug up his butt.
Daved | 03.10.05 - 8:43 pm | #

Way-late comment here, but...

We can also edit his ending paragraph to say:

"What we need now is a critical mass of * OP-ED COLUMNISTS * sufficiently mature to realize the world does not revolve around them and sufficiently conscientious to insist on earning their influence through meticulous reporting."
Jon S. | Homepage | 03.13.05 - 10:45 am | #