... fragt Jacob Weißberg und gibt sich gleich selbst die Antwort: Jeder, der es sein will. Weißberg knüpft sich in diesem exzellenten Stück Meinungsjournalismus vor allem die Kollegen vor, die mit Beißreflexen auf das plötzliche Auftauchen der Amateur-Publizisten reagieren:
The breakdown of what once were formidable barriers to entry in the field of journalism is good news for democracy as a whole and for the press itself. The great cacophony of voices in the blogosphere means that more views are being represented, that more subjects are being examined in detail, and that more sunlight shines into institutions of all kinds.
Und:
Thousands of bloggers ranting from their soapboxes mean that our political culture encompasses bracing debate about everything people disagree about. If you don't like this raucous clamor emanating from cyberspace, you're not really comfortable with democracy.
Auch hierzulande wird die zunehmende Demokratisierung der Medienwelt gerne schon mal als Lauffeuerklatsch verungimpft. Dazu passend ein hübscher Einwurf von Jon Carroll vom San Francisco Chronicle zum Thema "Blogger sitzen im Pyjama vorm Rechner":
Pajamas do not inherently corrupt the quality of the information passing through the brain of the person wearing the pajamas. (...) The stand-alone journalists are here, and they are digging out facts and leading crusades. They are also printing gossip and distorting facts -- but hey, so are we.
Genau.
