contrapositive

RISE OF THE BLOGS? The Friday edition of the New York Times is awfully blog-heavy.

First, there's the front-page photo of military caskets, a snapshot that became available--the accompanying article explains--courtesy of a Freedom of Information Act request filed by The Memory Hole.

The Times, apparently believing it owed readers an explanation for why it'd been scooped (and by a website!) gave its executive editor and another media heavyweight opportunities to clarify:

"We were not aware at all that these photos were being taken," said Bill Keller, executive editor of The New York Times.

John Banner, the executive producer of ABC's "World News Tonight," said, "We did not file a F.O.I.A. request ourselves, because this was the first we had known that the military was shooting these pictures."

Then, The Times runs an op-Ed line-up that includes both Ryan Lizza and Joshua Marshall.

True, both writers have mainstream journalism credentials. But their most interesting work--and almost certainly, most widely read--can be found on their blogs: Campaign Journal and Talking Points Memo, respectively.

So--have we reached some sort of tipping point? I doubt it.

But the distinction between mainstream media and internet chatter is definitely starting to blur...