Blog Relevance on the Rise

The upcoming American Presidential Election has been a wonderful boon for the blogging industry as a whole. Surely, there was progress in other arenas, however, the front row seats and top-of-mind consideration from the warring parties and hungry media is tremendous.

Most recently, there has been tremendous controversy regarding the CBS release of "official" documents regarding President Bush's Air National Guard Service, or lack thereof. What's most interesting from the blogging front, though, is not the spread of the news itself but the creation of the Hoax meme. Almost immediately after the segment aired, blogs were posting up to debunk the claims. A very loud roar can be heard from both sides of the camp if you listen closely.

And listen closely indeed many did. Though the media initially went with headlines in kind, they quickly adjusted their posture and began to ask the same questions and pull from the blog sources for inspiration. Many have marvelled at this new power:

The incident could help legitimize the role that blogs and other nonprofessional online writers are already playing in the everyday business of news reporting.

Even traditional reporters working online have had to struggle to win credibility over the past decade. But nontraditional sources such as blogs--which run the gamut from high-school journal entries to war reporting from Iraq--have often had an even harder time being taken seriously.

Source: news.com, "Bloggers drive hoax probe into Bush memos"

What I think is most interesting, however, is that the blog that "started" it all, the PowerLine Blog, was relatively unknown before this entry. It goes to show that, in the long run, good content goes a long way towards building reputation and, naturally, traffic.

I am expecting quite a few more events like this as the election draws closer and closer.