Salon has a story today, and the beginning of an occasional series, on the large media conglomerates and their attempts to control the internet. The editors point out: "[y]ou can hop from your drive-time station to your eyewitness news channel to your favorite news portal to your morning paper, without significantly expanding your grasp of the world." Even the editorials and pundits have been brought under the yoke of this mindless repition of the two-party lines.

I see an outlet in blogs (although there seems to be a lot of self-congratulation going on in the blog world right now) and liken their possible impact to those of the basement publisher at the beginning of last century. There is a need for independent voices and reporting in an evern constricting media environment. E-mail provides a manner that can bring awareness to a cite faster than most conventional advertising. Also the start-up costs are minimal, and for those that are motivated, self-web-hosting provides almost total autonomy. Kausfiles and the Daily Howler are good examples. I consider Drudge to be a good outlet for less reported stories, though not a reporter/commentator on the same level.
- posted by levinson @ 6/26/2001 07:58:00 AM