The Village News, a weekly community newspaper based in Chester, VA, has joined the parade of print media outlets exploring the blogosphere and its impact on public life. With a story titled, “I’ve Got Something to Say,” writer Elyse Reel examines the nature of political blogging and offers a bit of commentary on the roles that bloggers can play. She asserts that political bloggers “help figure out the tangled mess of today’s government,” concluding that if “the current generation of bloggers step aside, however, it’s a sure bet that a new one will instantly spring up to take their places. Blogging is becoming a bigger and bigger phenomenon.”
Featuring comments from yours’ truly and BR chief Jim Bacon, the article covers a number of angles, with the general sentiment being that blogs are permanent fixtures as players in the provision of news and opinion. Village News publisher Mark Fausz is a solid proponent of blogging, believing that the “citizen media” will join community newspapers like his as alternatives to larger corporate media entities. Given the continuing misfortunes of the MSM, he could be right.
Beyond simply covering blogs, The Village News actually provides links to a number of local and state blogs (including this one), and earlier this year, and the paper stirred up a bit of controversy in Chesterfield by reproducing and citing material from South of the James in a local political story. In light of yesterday’s forum on blogging and journalism hosted by the Richmond chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, it will be interesting to see how the Village News’ brethren in the community weeklies adapt to the brave new world in which bloggers make and create the news.