Blogger-MSM Partnerships

The Harper Collins correction episode where Clinton ended up with a pai on his face because of the hard work of a blogger and a journalist perfectly illustrates the constructive role blogs can play in the world of news. All talks of bloggers replacing MSM are a bit too grandiose and divorced from reality. MSM runs on resources and will continue to exist and be the main source of information for people.

Bloggers can play a supplementary role, unturning a stone that might have not come to MSM's attention. As Nitin writes,

Indeed, it is Chidanand Rajghatta who was at the business end of this. I don't think HarperCollins or Albright's office would have responded with any urgency if not for the fact that it was a journalist from a big newspaper that was doing the asking. And I'm not saying this out of modesty.

What I gather from this episode is that, more than the just the blogosphere itself, it is the connections and the parterships that come about in the online world that can make a difference.