Bloggers on Front Page of NYT

This article was on the front page of yesterday's NYT to make the point that the top bloggers are now doing important reporting as well as commentary. Firedoglake used to be one of my favorite blogs. I still check them out, but they became too much advocates and not enough analysts for my taste. This happened during the Lieberman vs Lamont race in Conn. They went off the deep end to me in going after Joe, although frankly, given what he's done since, they were absolutely right about Joe's extremism. Still a touch too partisan for me.

I like Jane Hamsher's writing and thinking especially. Unfortunately, she just underwent surgery for breast cancer for the third time during the beginning of the Libby trial and still joined the team in Washington after missing two weeks.

Highlights from the Times article:

Even as they exploit the newest technologies, the Libby trial bloggers are a throwback to a journalistic style of decades ago, when many reporters made no pretense of political neutrality. Compared with the sober, neutral drudges of the establishment press, the bloggers are class clowns and crusaders, satirists and scolds....

In the courthouse, the old- and new-media groups have mixed warily at times. Mainstream reporters have shushed the bloggers when their sarcastic comments on the testimony drowned out the audio feed. But traditional reporters have also called on the bloggers on occasion to check a quote or an obscure detail from the investigation.