That’s how Ben Smith describes what he used to do at Politico. (BTW, I’ve always distinguished bloggers at Politico from the news operation.)
He’s now transformed, as of today, his personal blog at Politico into a mini whatever, with his own staff, a mechanism he sees as the future:
As this cycle has worn on, the dusty old form of the personal political blog has required some updating. Twitter has replaced any individual blog as the place the political conversation plays out, freeing me racing to report something everyone’s now watching on the livestream and pushing me toward scoops and analysis. Other successful bloggers — from Andrew Sullivan to Michelle Malkin, Chris Cillizza to Ezra Klein — have been edging in different ways toward institutionalizing what works, staffing up and formalizing their beats to better serve their audiences.
I agree that Twitter is where it is happening for breaking news, but not for content. I often find out about events on Twitter before any MSM outlet has reported. You can’t move at the speed of Twitter alone or even with a big organization.
There will always be a place for dusty old personal political blogs. I hope.
As for Legal Insurrection, Phase 2 is coming soon. Really.
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“Why?” is the most important of the Five Ws. Nothing can touch the best personal political blogs when it comes to answering “Why?”
That being said, it would be nice to see your analysis in WSJ or Washingtion Examiner, etc., too, Professor.
Blogs are good for news updates for narrowcast audiences like localities or professional or cultural affiliations. Twitter isn’t much use to farmers looking for updates on EPA progress on dust regs for instance.
But for general audience blogs I’ve always looked to them for analysis and different viewpoints that put news into context and shed more light. Since what passes for analysis in mass media (including online) regurgitates CW or is geared towered low information readers or is subtly biased without acknowledgment, I value blogs that take the time to go deep and put honest analysis foremost. Whether that is in blog, article, or some yet to be invented derivation it will always be critical to informed public discourse and republican government.
Aha!
Prof you should know that Legal Insurrection was just mentioned by name and the now famous https://legalinsurrection.com/2011/11/politico-v-herman-cain-in-numbers/
…has a prominent Audio Recitation on the EIB Network!
Congratulations & Kudos!