Blogs Vs. The Mainstream?

I've been staying out of the whole "Blogs Vs. Big Media" thing. I believe whatever will be, will be: If people have a choice and find that blogs are covering a host of subjects that the mainstream does not cover- so be it. If they find nothing of interest in blogs.... then blogs, I suppose, might disappear. For now I think that it is self-evident that they have changed the game (Rathergate, Lewinsky, et al).

I'da never involved you, but you had to add your two pennies
Now I gotta go grab my shitlist and add some new enemies
--Eminem

Then I come across this article in the National Post (via Autonomous Source)...which is not unlike a lot of other articles I have come across. It attacks blogs, or more accurately, bloggers for being too headstrong and full of themselves. The author also believes that the anlaysis provided by Blogs is simplistic. Near the end of the article, the writing goes off the chart:

Bloggers -- alas or hurrah -- are not the giant killers they've been portrayed as lately. They are the plovers who fly into the mouth of the big media crocodiles and keep their teeth clean. If it weren't for the media's bad dental habits, bloggers wouldn't get fed. But if they ever forget their place and start pecking away at the gums, don't believe for a moment that the crocodiles won't snap their jaws shut and swallow them whole.

Whu? "Forget their place"? Which cracked out editor at the post let this one slide? I think blogs are in the position of power in this relationship (freedom of content, lack of editorial control), but more importantly:

Journalists are far from being experts in their fields. There are exceptions, but basically, they have degrees, or specialize, in journalism- not politics, business or the arts. There's nothing wrong with a journalism degree, but there is something wrong with some wanker claiming to be 'the end all and be all' because they work for a paper or broadcaster "Watch out, we'll eat you if you invade our territory!" Are they going to stop me from typing? Okay, El Duce! Blackshirts tomorrow!

But back to the subject (this is why i don't write for anyone!): Is there nothing a lawyer could add to the analysis of the "Air India" case that a BA in Medieval Studies at the CBC didn't pick up? What about an accountant or financial professional providing insight into a company's financial statements? The group intelligence of any large, educated population will beat out the musings of some half-sloshed hack, 'perfecting' their craft for a whole 2 hours a day in their 'loft' in Toronto.

My question is, J. Kelly Nestruck (What's with the name? A little pretentious, are we?): "Are you a little nervous about losing control of the written word?" Is it okay for parts unknown in Toronto (aka: the rest of the country) to decide what they see in print? How are you going to stop the bloggers if 'they forget their place'?

When I get mad
And I get pissed
I grab my pen
And I write out a list
Of all the people
That won't be missed
You've made my shitlist

For all the ones
Who bum me out
Shitlist
For all the ones
Who fill my head with doubt
Shitlist
For all the squares who get me pissed
Shitlist
You've made my shitlist
--L7