Power and responsibility

MarketWatch.com's Jon Friedman raises a good question about where blogging goes from here:

Now that bloggers have gained a measure of credibility, what are they going to do with their newfound acceptance?

The danger is that bloggers are going to embrace the worst aspects of tabloids. That means, as the saying goes, they'll throw their content against a wall, and if it sticks, they'll publish it, no matter how wild or trivial it might be.

As important as a freewheeling world of opinion is, an irresponsible writer can endanger reputations within society at large and within journalism as a profession. ...

At their worst, the bloggers remind me of people who call into an all-sports talk-radio station and yell out their opinions. They have no new information to present. They aren't witty or clever. They're simply shrill. And that's no longer good enough.