Corporate Blogging

There was an editorial in this morning's Dallas Morning News about the growing institutionalization of blogging. There is growing consensus that blogging has "become more corporate, more ossified, and increasingly indistinguishable from mainstream media." We are told that "the era when political comment on the Web (was) dominated by solo bloggers writing for free is gone." It is reported that many of blogging's most successful writers have been, and are continuing to be, "absorbed" by large, commercial sites.

Evidently, I am at risk of wasting my time since, according to the article, the interest in independent political bloggers is declining and is expected to continue to decline in the growing shadow cast by large, corporate sites. As if that weren't enough, it is said that the door is rapidly closing on the aspirations of independent bloggers to be hired by any large, professional, blog service since many of the best bloggers have already been snatched up. This is frustrating news for many of us Blog writers still aspiring to fame and fortune.

One result of independent bloggers being hired by large, professional sites, the article continues, is that political blogging is becoming increasingly standardized and indistinguishable from mainstream reporting. The importance and allure of the unorthodox, and sometimes quirky insights and opinions expressed by independent Bloggers is in jeopardy of being washed away in the growing swell of mainstream media's expansion in the Blogosphere. The good news is that there are still bloggers out there who do not write for fame and fortune, well, some anyway. I suspect many political bloggers, such as myself, write because they are dissatisfied with the coverage and reporting of "mainstream" media. Where this is the case, the allure of being hired by a large, professional site, is not quite as appealing as it might be to others.

I would certainly welcome being paid to write my Blog. But I enjoy the freedom of choosing what I want to write about, how to write about it, and, not least of all, when to write about it. I would not welcome having to conform my interests and tailor my opinions to suit the editorial tastes and market concerns of an employer. It is not that I am an idealist. It is simply that I hold my principals at a higher price than people have offered to pay for them.