One of the most intriguing panels at Yearly Kos was: Blogs and the MSM: From Clash to Civilization.
It featured Mike Allen, formerly of the Washington Post and Time, currently of Politico.com, (a corporate pseudo blog), and the author of some of the dumber things ever written about the Bush Administration. It also featured blogger, Glenn Greenwald, of Salon.com. (sorry for the lousy picture, but the lighting was difficult to deal with)
The purpose of the session was to discuss how the MSM and the blogosphere can coexist to the benefit of both. Although the exchanges were quite civilized, the respective interpretations of the role of the media still contained a whole lot of clash!
Before going any further, I have to say is that Glenn Greenwald is truly a force of nature, able to cut through the most obtuse bullshit with such razor sharp precision that he basically ends the debate every time he gets his chance to speak.
However, my favorite moment of the panel came when Mike Allen tried to explain why the MSM were initially uncomfortable with bloggers.
To his credit, although I have little respect for Allen's reporting skills, he is a likable guy who deserves praise for being willing to face a potentially hostile crowd.
But talk about shooting yourself in the foot! During the course of one of his rambling, somewhat evasive answers to an audience question, he unwittingly proceeded to sum up the whole dynamic with an analogy for why the MSM has had a hard time accepting bloggers such as Greenwald.
It was, he described, like when a new kid moves to a school in mid-year. At first, the other kids are skeptical because the new kid seems to dress a little differently, seems to talk a little differently, and “seems a little smarter!”
And then, Allen, without even noticing the irony of what he had just said, moved right into the next question. And that, I am certain, is why we rely on Glenn Greenwald before the mainstream press. He seems a little smarter to us too!
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