2004 The Year of Hot Ideas
The Blog, The Press, The Media: The Limits of Man Bites Dragon Stories
Jean-Paul Sartre: Man is condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does.
The usual notion of big news is the unusual. Journalists are taught to look for "man bites dog" stories – the events that raise eyebrows and make us think, "Wow!"
News of the ordinary also makes the cut in media outlets, of course, but it's not what sizzles, and it's not apt to get onto front pages or prime-time broadcasts.
A simple rejoinder to the media status quo is that what we really need are more "dog bites man" and "dog bites woman" stories. For every spectacular event, there are many others – just as terrible or just as wonderful – that barely register on the media Richter scale because they're happening all the time. What's earthshaking in people's lives is often barely visible to the hype-hungry media eye.
• The fly-on-the-wall conceits of reporters [Idio Types - Trends ]
• · It took a little longer than expected to compile US bias: Newspapers with RSS: A List
• · · Meet the highly evolved community of 'A-listers' with growing influence over the tech agenda. They show how radically power can shift in the age of the Internet. I want to be the first guy to spot the smart new guy or a cool new Windows app. Even then you have no guarantee of dragon fame Cross-linking to one another
• · · · Cliopatria, Google announces an agreement to digitize the holdings of many of the world's great libraries, including those of Harvard, Oxford, Michigan, Stanford, and the NYPL. My, that should be enormously useful for researchers the world over once they get it up and running. That noise you heard in the background was millions of historians' frequent flier miles suddenly crying out in terror and then suddenly silenced.
• · · · · Following in the footsteps of such insightful political blogs as Tim Dunlop, Washington Posts suggests Start a Winning Blog
• · · · · · Blair third time lucky? Crocodile Dundee of the Bloggosphere