Blogosphere as "giant wire service"
Clyde Bentley, a Missouri School of Journalism professor who
researches user-generated news, speaking at the Future of Journalism conference at Harvard, June 20-21:
The debate over bloggers' influence "is over," he said. "Blogging is a numbers game. It's there and we'll just have to deal with it." Noting that 120,000 new blogs a day dwarf the country's 1,427 dailies, he said editors should treat the blogosphere like a giant wire service. Bentley said that while consumer demand for content decreases, their demand for content navigation increases. "There will always be a place for the journalist who can craft a story better than anyone else, but there will be a bigger place for the journalist who can help media consumers find the information they want."
