Depending on who you talk to, the blogosphere is either a salvation from mainstream media monopoly or it's a slippery slope to certain chaos of under- or uninformed "newsiness." Being a former newsman himself, Worldwide Pablo has his own opinions [which shouldn't be so hard to figure out], but we'll save those pithy comments for another day.
In Bellingham, Wash., the local independent newspaper -- the aptly named Whatcom Independent -- has published its last issue, a victim of falling readership and flagging advertising revenues. This is the sort of "death to the dead-tree media" rallying cry that normally cheers the blogging class. But we wonder: Is this such a good trend? And moreover: When the last of the these newspapers is gone, what exactly will bloggers actually have to write about?
What's more, who's stepping up to the plate? Well, as it turns out, no one, really. As Editor Sheri Ward notes in her farewell column:
"Web-based news blogs may fill some of the need, and the quality and reliability of those is evolving. One can hope the bar for quality local news coverage rises enough to render news-oriented blogs useful for the general community."
She adds:
"It's time to pass the baton. Unfortunately, at this point, there's nobody on the receiving end of that pass."
Exactly. Whatcom County is something of a media test tube, when you think about it. Retrenching mainstream newspaper, other shrinking and disappearing media, no one really stepping up to fill the void. That's something to celebrate?
WWP will take Walter Cronkite over that any day.
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