Bloggers gone television? The world has gone mad! Now when blogs are just beginning to peak as “mainstream,” bloggers themselves are already putting a face (and a voice) with a name.
Michelle Malkin and Kristen Powers (two political bloggers from opposite sides of the fence) now have a show on Fox News called It’s Out There, airing at 10:30 p.m. Sunday nights.
Why Michelle and Kristen, you might ask? Well, both are hugely successful bloggers, garnering massive audiences—eager political junkies just waiting to get the latest scoop, served with a slice of snark on the side.
I think that Fox acknowledging Michelle and Kristen as talk show hosts builds credibility for bloggers. It shows that a major news corporation recognizes their power and audience appeal and isn’t afraid to take a chance by crossing media platforms.
Now, I cannot yet speak to the quality of the show. (Don’t worry, I will tune in for all of you who put a block on the Fox News channel, and I will give you a formal reaction. Take my opinion for what you will.) But what I am wondering about is the quality of the blogs that originally made them famous.
I don’t think they will have the potential to dwindle in quality—they clearly have the money to pay a staff to report and post. But I do think their blogs will lose a bit of personal appeal. After all, what I enjoy about blogs is knowing that someone is at the other end of the computer, and that person might be Michelle or Kristen. But now I feel like they will be too busy to feed a desperate political junkie like myself. Single tear ...
John Lichman @ Sun, 03/04/2007 - 11:59am
Sadly, I will probably be watching this as well despite my self-imposed ban on Fox after it couldn't make the whole Brtiney Spears/Global Warming joke that funny.
But shows about blogs? Hm, as a young pseudo-journalist, I love the idea but question who's going to watch it. MSNBC tried this with The Most and even put the under-used Alison Stewart up as host, incorporating segments that looked at blogs and the always joyful internet props.
I should throw in something about Malkin being evil or Fox being bad, but I'm kind of interested to see this and what types of blogs they cover. I mean, I can assume, but maybe there'll be a surprise in there. Or maybe she'll show us the picture of her in the flak jacket again.