In the wake of Lietch’s appearance on HBO’s town hall meeting, a lot of bloggers and media pundits are sharing their opinion on the matter of blogs and the mainstream. But everyone is missing an incredibly important angle of the blogging v. mainstream media debate: economics.
If “mainstream” companies and corporations didn’t advertise on blogs, essentially paying them for their personal commentary, then blogs would quickly fade away (as most already do) and rarely leave a lasting impression. Our small sports blog that’s not even in Deadspin’s ballpark has made some money in 2008, which is more than we could’ve expected. The big boys even make a living doing it. The only other way to make money in sports “journalism” is to pursue a full-time position at paper or magazine, of which there are precious few. Not to mention the market is dominated by 40+ year old white men and reeks of old boys club.
So we, 3 average guys, get paid for sharing the silly and occasionally humorous opinions about sports usually reserved for tailgates and happy hours. We’re not trying to usurp the mainstream sports media or pursue a revolutionary agenda, but because of the homogenous nature and commercialization of ESPN and SI, many people want to go beyond “normal” sports coverage and head to our site. That is why people turn to blogs and why blogs are growing exponentially faster than mainstream outlets.
Guys like Costas (who I respect) and Buzz (you need to ask some oldtimers in Odessa, TX about his integrity) is they are simply upset that people without there credititials have readers. This is a normal reaction to new mediums. Newspaperman still look down on TV news as “oh so much sensationalism.