Monday, June 08, 2009

Authoritah

I continue to be amazed at the number of commentators and pundits who draw a distinction between what they do by virtue of the fact that they're blessed by what they perceive to be an official publication, even a wingnut welfare one, and the amateur rabble who have succeeded in building an audience of readers all by themselves.

You get this a bit from journalists, who seem to be very concerned with maintaining their perceived authority. I WORK FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES AND YOU DON'T. That kind of thing. I don't confuse what I do with daily reporting, but nor do I have automatic respect for people based on which media outlet they're attached to.