Reading through this I think there's just one thing missing in the conversation. Who stands behind these bloggers? I mean, one day I decided to write a blog and about a year later it's still growing quite healthily. I post about once a week and it's entirely an opinion piece. I do not consider myself a journalist because it's all my opinion, my decision to write it and there is no one looking over my shoulder to see what I'm doing. I think it's a hugely important part of the process to have someone to back up what you're doing because that calls for some kind of oversight, responsibility and credibility. Blogging is either a creative outlet or an entertainment venue. While some people have taken to the blogosphere to get their news out there and use it as a news venue I don't believe that it can be given the same standing as a news media since there's no real vetting process behind what goes out there, no standardized quality revision and you do not have the backing of what one might call people of standing. If that were to change, say a company that dedicates itself to news coverage with backing from seasoned tried and true journalist professionals that might have a shot at changing. But just someone going out there and calling themselves journalists will not work. While I'm not saying that all news corporations meet any particular minimum standard, it is already an established medium. Blogging, on the other hand, is not.