"That really makes somebody! Things are going to start happening to me now."

Yeah, I'm somebody now. The Memphis Flyer's Annual Manual is out this week and in it is an article about blogging, with some quotes from yours truly, Kevin of LeanLeft and some other guy named Atrios. (Just kidding there.) You can read the whole thing online.

Overall, I thought it was nicely done, though short, and pretty fair. I do wish he'd put more local emphasis in it, as there are quite a few more Memphis bloggers worth your time. (Check the Rocky Top Brigade list. There's also Signifying Nothing and Fishkite.) It's also frustrating that the online story didn't have embedded links in it! That's so basic it's inexcusable.

Chris Davis, the writer, did make a rather facile metaphor between talk radio and blogging, which I tried to refute. Talk radio is still the one-to-many model, like newspapers and television, with some interactivity built in via the call-in feature. But that's a very limited feature. There's only so many minutes in an hour, even less after commercial time and the host's own talk. Plus there's no way to build dialogue, nor is there any way for the listener to follow up if the particular caller is interesting in their own right.

Blogging is the many-to-many model. There's no time or space limit. With commenting, you can invite dialogue and criticism that's not controlled by the host. With linking, you can build communities of interest and point the way to original sources of information or relevant further information. It's anarchic, sure, but democratic in a way that the benevolent totalitarianism of talk radio isn't.

There are some talk hosts who are trying to incorporate the two. Neal Boortz, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck and many more see how one complements the other. But of the ones I mentioned, only Boortz will use the Web in the way it's best used and let his talk show be informed by what he receives there. Rush and Sean are still pretty much the talk show with a Net adjunct.

The day is soon coming when a blogger takes to the radio. But I suspect his program will be so information-dense and fast moving, so reliant on the listeners paying constant, total attention, that it won't be a success as pure talk radio is. The Net lets you move at your own pace, clicking where and as you will. Radio is someone else's pace and by requirement linear. Move too fast or jump around too much and you lose people. This is a problem that local host Mike Fleming faces, and he handles it poorly. He constantly refreshes the topic after every ad break, to bring new listeners up to speed, and he sacrifices time doing it. Then he races through callers, often cutting them off when they are too slow or addressing something they didn't mean so he can move along. He also tries to cram in several topics per hour, making things confusing to listeners, and again making the show race along. I've many times heard callers ask what he was just talking about, as they have clearly just caught up or tuned in. He's wasting time and attention.

Davis could also have mentioned how the blogosphere has been fact-checking print journalism, holding broadcast media accountable, and generally making the major media culture look bad. Blogging has opened up the previously closed world of journalism to everyone, and it's making journalists, editors and publishers very nervous. I liken it to the way that doctors used to be seen as gods, until their closed world was opened up to examination. Then we discover they are people just like anyone else, with all their biases, foibles, mistakes and egos. It brought doctors down to a human level, but made medicine a much better practice for it. The same is going on with journalism now. Remember, for all their pious blather, there is no license, certification, testing, requirements or specialisation mandated to become a journalist. Anyone can do it, and thanks to blogging anyone is. As with everything else, marketplace competition is making journalism better.

It would have been nice to have this touched on in the article, but Davis was space-limited (another print constraint), which I understand. It really would have helped the point to have seen more Memphis bloggers listed at the end of the online version at least. Still, I feel that I was well-treated in this encounter with the professionals and thank Chris for contacting me.

BTW, Bonus Cool Points* if you can identify the source of this post's header.

*BCPs can be redeemed with the nearest group of hip people in your area and socioeconomic/education/class group. Cool passport and a beginner's Cool permit required. Do not use BCPs without knowing what you are doing, as they can be dangerous to your Cool if used improperly. Always wear shades.