From today's edition of the Wall Street Journal's Political Diary:
President George W. Bush had some real competition for Time's Person of the Year. He almost lost out to the Bloggers, who helped transform coverage of American politics and the media this year.
In the end, Time stuck with the safe choice but it did showcase the Blog of the Year in its latest issue. The editors chose Power Line, which was started in 2002 by two conservative Minneapolis lawyers who were later joined by a Washington D.C. based lawyer. Power Line achieved celebrity status when it became the first to shoot holes in Dan Rather's infamous "60 Minutes" report attacking President Bush's service record in the Air National Guard. "In 2004, blogs unexpectedly vaulted into the pantheon of major media, alongside TV, radio and, yes, magazines, and it was Power Line, more than any other blog, that got them there," concluded Time.
Scott Johnson, one of Power Line's three bloggers, recalls looking at the memos CBS posted on its web site to back up its National Guard story. He quickly questioned whether or not they were forgeries in a blog posting and linked his skeptical entry to another blog that was also raising the issue. The controversy spread through the "blogosphere" within hours and soon CBS was under a siege that will not lift until it releases its internal report on the story.
Power Line has since exploded in popularity and has started taking ads for the first time. But its annual profit is still only barely in five figures. Mr. Johnson says the blog is a labor of love and that he is thrilled to see how the Internet is empowering people and shaping political coverage. Some still point to the millions of amateur bloggers and dismiss them as nerdy faddists and their work as largely trivial. Most bloggers will burn out and move on to something else. But a handful are slowly building a shadow media infrastructure that will become a significant component of the media in the 21st century.
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