Blog of the Year

Work has kept me too busy to blog lately, but I would be remiss to let tomorrow's Time (subscription required) article about Power Line go by without a mention. Power Line is the blog that pushed the issue about those Bush National Guard documents being apparent forgeries. They get credit for exposing the fraud and forcing the mainstream media to scrutinize the allegations. We all know what has happened at CBS News since then. Bottom line: a blog exposed the truth and made CBS accountable.

The Time story is very well written and is a pretty good primer on blogs. The account of how Power Line started is novel, and I suspect it will strike a chord with many other bloggers with similar beginnings. This paragraph sums up blogs as well as anything I've read:

If you haven't read one, it's hard to describe what makes blogs so special. There's just something about the rhythm and pace of a blog that feels intuitively right. You don't have to sit through fake-cheerful news-team chitchat or wade through endless column inches. It takes about 20 sec. to read a typical blog post, and when you're finished you've got the basic facts up to the minute plus a dab of analysis and a dash of spin. If you're not satisfied, you can click the link for more. If you are, you can go back to checking your e-mail and jiggering your spreadsheets or whatever you do for a living. This is news Jetsons-style. If it were any neater and quicker, it would come in a pill.

Congratulations, guys. I have not been a Power Line reader, but I will be now.