Freedom the the Blog

On occasion I note on blogs of magazines such as Touchstone's Mere Comments some veiled, negative comments about blogs and blogging, not hostile, just negative, kind of a looking down one's nose at a rather inferior breed.  It's as if publication of ideas is strictly the province of the professional writer.  While I'd be the first to admit that there is much appearing in the blogosphere that doesn't bear thinking about, much less reading, the Daily Kos comes immediately to mind, still, I must protest the right of bloggers to, well, blog.

In the United States, the constitution makes clear the rights of both freedom of speech and freedom of the press. In the past, these rights were expressed by people starting commercial ventures such as newspapers, or perhaps newsletters, with the market sorting out the survivors.  Not all of these were polished, professional productions, but anyone with access to a printing press was free to make his entry into the market of ideas.

Technology has changed the format, and the web has lowered the cost of entry.  The right persists.  Further, the market is still free to sort out the winners and losers.  Professional journalists are not gatekeepers to publication, it seems they should, in fact, be in the forefront of support for the right of bloggers to publish, for better or worse;  if freedom of press is limited in any way, it's limited in every way.