Those cynical chaps at Spiked Online are holding a ‘live event’ next Wednesday:
Are blogs revolutionising journalism, or have people in the traditional media lost faith in their own authority, leading them to talk blogs up? Do blogs enhance democracy, or do they make a virtue of narcissism and navel-gazing? Does a dangerous clique of bloggers wield unaccountable power, or are these bloggers simply exercising their right to free speech on an exciting new platform?
If you fancy spending £10 to listen to the navel-gazing of Brendan O’Neill, James Crabtree, Bill Thompson and Perry de Havilland (a dangerous clique if ever there was one) then the details are here.
Personally I think the idea that blogs have any sort of ‘power’, accountable or otherwise, is laughable. As is the suggestion that traditional media are ‘talking up’ blogs.
I wonder if Spiked will think blogging is just a moral panic?