All your blogs, are belong to us

Another day, another MSM article about the possible demise of blogging. The WaPo's Marc Fisher has an opinion:

The trick for the next phase of its evolution will be to find ways to add heft and win wider notice, perhaps even some permanance for the best work, just as the best work appearing in daily newspapers and magazines eventually found its way to books (think Dickens, Tom Wolfe, Hunter Thompson)..

He's correct--most blogs (including this one) are merely speculation, ideas, rants, or free-for-alls. So what? The decreasing number of blogs is merely a natural equilibrium based on the number of start-ups. As we all know, it takes work to research and write, then get hits. That does lead to burnout, but if there's another Hemingway out there lost in the shuffle it seems a dwindling blogosphere would act to self-correct 'the problem' as the 'fad' passes. No evolutions needed.

Besides, to assume every blogger is out to get rich and famous is not assumable. Some don't give a fiddler's darn, preferring to simply discuss the news and events of the day just like they would on a message board (only with more control). Hey--it beats yelling at the TV. Those who do want to attain fame, fortune, women and motorcars by blogging are usually the most persistent anyway. Just like in any field.

Hopefully we aren't heading towards "bloggers licenses" or somesuch, designed under the premise of recognizing talent by thinning the herd to those with some sort of arbitrary credentials. I'm not saying Mr. Fisher is suggesting such a thing, I just get the feeling some in the big media, for obvious reasons, would like to see a bit of bug spray applied to this giant swarm of gnats.

It's not about competition and survival, either. Bloggers need the big media to power their rant-filled speculative posts or generate discussion, even if every MSM story could be guaranteed 100 percent perfect. We also need the media to provide a check and balance to the government. Yet with that they run the risk of fourth estate trappings, especially with media consolidation (most towns only have one daily newspaper).

Right now bloggers provide a value-added check and balance to the fourth estate, a much better alternative to rampant government intervention, wouldn't you say? If it ain't broke..