I had to take a break of the news coverage of the Gulf States. It is unbelievable what is going on down there.
I found this link over at Antonia Zerbisias' blog.
There’s a new, unconventional force in the land. “Blogging” (the term comes from “blog,” short for weblog) is beginning to set the agenda for our conventional media. Bloggers claim credit for forcing the resignation of Eason Jordan as head of CNN News, for pushing Dan Rather out as CBS anchor, and even for causing Canada’s sponsorship inquiry to make public the damning testimony of Jean Brault, the Montreal adman who says he was pressured into paying kickbacks to the Liberal party.
The Canadian Journalism Foundation will examine the blogging phenomenon at a public forum. Why are journalists and with-it business executives so hooked on blogging? Is it the new electronic version of “vanity publishing?” Is it a genuine threat to established media, a potent corporate tool, a new level of access for alienated citizens, or simply low-grade electronic water-cooler gossip—or all of the above?
Panelists inlcude:
“Captain Ed,” the U.S. blogger who webcast a virtual transcript of the banned Gomery inquiry testimony. For a week this spring, more political operatives in Ottawa were linking to Edward Morrissey’s www.captainsquartersblog.com than to the websites of the Globe and Mail, CBC or other familiar news organizations.
Julian Porter, Q.C., independent counsel and co-author of the law text entitled Canadian Libel Practice, will address libel and publication bans as they relate to the internet.
Andrew Coyne, Canadian blogger and national affairs columnist for the National Post, has been an editorial writer and columnist for The Financial Post, the Globe and Mail, and the Southam newspaper chain.
Jesse Hirsh, president and managing partner of Openflows, will moderate the discussion. Hirsh is a freqent contributor to CBC Radio nad has published and lectured extensively on the political economy of culture and technology.
Now, whether or not Andrew Coyne is still a blogger is debatable but it sounds like something worth checking out. It is on a Tuesday, which could make a commute in from Cambridge tough, but it is worth considering.
