Dave Luther 

Nothing impersonal 

Ms. Behavings 

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Yes! Exactly! It's hard to remember that in our age of plenty -- a gazillion cable news shows, more shrinkwrapped software than you can shake a stick at -- that there are still underserved areas that can be addressed by a DIY effort by the "users" themselves -- by learning some programming skills or by becoming a "citizen journalist" via their blog.

While I find it much easier to find out what's going on in, say, Indonesia than I ever did before, media concentration in the US has turned my local paper into an advertising circular with one reporter who serves three papers. It's harder than ever before to find out what's going on one block over. That's why I'm always encouraged to find citizen journalists like Gordon Joseloff, who runs Westport Now, or Robert Winters, who runs The Cambridge Civic Journal. Many people say that bloggers can't take the place of traditional media. While it's true that no single blogger can compete with CNN or the NY Times, many of them can and do beat their anorexic local papers on both quality *and* quantity, and perform a vital public service at the same time.

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