The Blog Estate

Apart from love, Blogging could be the new Killer App.

Have you been wondering why so much news goes unreported or uncovered by the major media outlets lately? Media ownership is in the hands of seven (that’s 7) major corporations, according to Who Owns the Media. (In case you’re interested, this topic is also covered by the NOW Foundation, TurnOffYourTV.com, and the Columbia Journalism Review among others.)

Since corporations are in business to make money (even though they let bigotry stand in the way of revenue by refusing to run an ad from the UCC), it’s rather naive to imagine that these corporate interests have anything in common with the public interest. Whether you want to attribute the demise of the liberal media to a right-wing conspiracy or to corporate synergy, the public still loses.

Enter the Blog, the grassroots tool to catch the news and opinions that would otherwise fall through the cracks. At their best, Blogs can give everyone the opportunity to share their findings and opinions with everyone else, providing individual-level forums for discussion and argument (in the philosophical sense). Furthermore, we can learn about an issue, explore its subtleties and nuances, and allow our opinions to evolve instead of dispensing the usual red team/blue team knee-jerk reactions. In the end, we may still disagree with one another but our disparities might be based on thoughtful reflection and consideration on an ever-widening pool of available facts.

On the other hand, I could just be an idealistic, naive sap. Television failed to live up to its potential and became a vast wasteland. The Internet is certainly following in its footsteps. Any day, Google (owner of Blogger.com) could be bought by Rupert Murdoch or GE. It could happen.