What If We Need Blogging?

The conversation has finally made its way to Capitol Hill. The newspaper is doomed, blogs can’t help us, and the industry needs a bailout. A few weeks ago, I took a shot at explaining that blogs weren’t trying to take the place of newspapers and fill a completely different niche in information consumption. But as I sifted through The Wire creator David Simon’s impassioned plea for government-backed newspaper aid, and a response from Gawker’s Ryan Tate, I realized there’s still some explaining left to do. (Full disclosure: Simon is a family friend).

Simon’s biggest concern is that bloggers, working virtually for free, do not show up to obscure city council meetings, spend time getting to know sources, or devote their lives full-time to journalism the way a salaried reporter does. Tate disagrees and brings up a lot of valid points despite the tasteless title of the post, “David Simon- Dead Wrong Dinosaur.”