beginning of class free-write on 4/27/09

I would argue that blogs only bring on the decay of the old system of mass media, the one dominated by television news, newspapers, and radio. I do not think that blogs replace mass media because I think of blogs as mass media. The blogosphere is, after all, massive and it is media. However, because of the ability of people to create their own news in the sense of reporting on things themselves, and giving their own bias to that news, I find that the older forms of mass media are becoming irrelevant. Essentially, it is easier and more fun for a person to read an article about a news event that is written by someone who shares the reader's point of view. Often, the mass media news only reflects very general political or cultural biases and doesn't report on a lot of things that certain people strongly care about. Therefore, it is easier and more useful for a person to find a blog that is written by someone who shares their views and writes about news items that matter to the particular reader. I would say that this is why blogs are replacing the old form of mass media.