"How blogging changed journalism-almost" is an article written by Chris Mooney an opinion writer. The subhead of his story explains exactly what his article was about: Chris Mooney examines how Weblogs have altered the balance of power in media and created ripples through society.
Blogs have definitely affected society and how they view the news. Bloggers often blog a topic until it is being talked about enough for the newsprint media to pick it up and write a story about it. Mooney provided an example of this in the "downfall of Senate Majority leader Trent Lott."
I have an outlook much like his when it comes to people criticizing blogs. In his article he stated, "In general, I have little patience for those in the "old media" who denounce blogging as a betrayal of journalistic values of objectivity and a strong editorial process. But I also grow uncomfortable when blogging gets compared, as an innovation, to something on the order of the printing press. (Thankfully, both of these extreme perspectives seem to be growing less prevalent than they once were.)"
People need to have fun with blogging and look at it as a new experience and something that isn't all bad or all good...much like other technology today.
Mooney puts it nicely in the end of his article when he calls blogging complementary to the news. It can't be considered traditional on its own, but it does let bloggers provide their personal accounts and their opinion on a particular happening or story.
He also briefly spoke of the popularity of blogging incresing after 9/11. His article can be found at: http://www.post-gazette.com/forum/comm/20030202edmoon02p1.asp.