'This Is the Future of Journalism'

The New York Times once again misses the obvious. Here they take a look at former newspaper journalists trying to get some notice by running a website that gets, by their estimate 18,000 unique visits a month, which, no offense to these folks, is what a small site like mine can get on a good day. This is what they're calling the future of journalism.

Good grief. And since some of these folks had previous experience at newspapers, well, then they're more credible, of course, than us anonymous amateurs.

Their news coverage and hard-digging investigative reporting stand out in an Internet landscape long dominated by partisan commentary, gossip, vitriol and citizen journalism posted by unpaid amateurs.

Let's see: Partisan commentary, vitriol and gossip? Sounds like your average day on the Times op-ed page. Or, in some cases, what they run on Page 1.

Well, does the Times ever bother to wonder whether some of us also have newspaper experience? Or is that too much for them to comprehend?

Most of us aren't doing this to pay the bills. We're doing it as a counter to the relentless bias brought to us by outlets such as the Times. And over the past several years, those whom they dismiss as unpaid amateurs sure seem to break more news than established outfits.

They still don't get it, and never will. That's why when their stock value reaches zero, we'll still be here laughing at their demise.

Maybe I'll even break that story.

You're Reading the 17th Most Conservatively Biased Blog on the Internet

Some guy with way too much time on his hands has gone to great lengths to figure out who are the most right- and left-leaning blogs according to Memeorandum data.

You'll be happy to know I'm 17th on the most right-leaning list. Sigh. I guess I have work to do to improve on that.

I must be doing something right since those immediately ahead or behind me are mostly favorites of mine. Scroll down to the spreadsheets, then scroll toward the bottom where they conservative blogs are listed.

Congratulations to Hot Air for grabbing first place honors.

Blogger Code of Conduct: Good Luck WIth That

Daniel Henninger discusses the proposed Blogger Code of Conduct by Tim O'Reilly and Jimmy Wales. All I can say is good luck trying to import civility upon the perpetually angry leftist bloggers. No need to name names; they know who they are.

I have no doubt most on the right or the middle would comply with it and act like civilized human beings, but try telling it to the angry left and look where it gets you.

But there is a harder side to this tension. After news spread of the O'Reilly-Wales proposal, an (needless to say) angry battalion of bloggers counterattacked, crying "censorship." Now we're beyond the merely obnoxious culture of chin-dribble. Now we're talking politics and power. So the cry goes up: You can't tell us how to talk. That's "censorship."

The censorship claim is often made by political Web players who want to be "free" to use whatever means will achieve the end of driving their opponents over the cliff. Consider the Congressional Black Caucus. Its affiliation with Fox News to conduct presidential debates was fire-bombed recently on "progressive" Web sites. Example: "Guess it takes a whole lot of grease to fry CBC's chicken." Scared, the three major Democratic presidential candidates pulled out. Censorship? Try doublespeak. The strategy of deploying charged and hyper-aggressive language is now evident: First intimidate one's targets, then coerce them--into conformity or silence. And do it always under the banner of free speech and democracy.

There is no evident political coloration to the broader concern that's arisen about conduct on the Web. The anti-civility trolls are in restaurants, stadiums, theaters, planes, church, the airwaves, in dreams. This is merely a recognition that rules of the road can indeed enhance, not suppress, the flow of truly free expression and minimize the already ample frictions of daily life. Better late than never.