This is not the first time such things have happened. Maney points to the early stages of the Protestant Reformation, when reformers such as Martin Luther were able to take advantage of a new technology, the printing press, to disseminate their ideas widely. He notes that new low-cost methods of producing and distributing pamphlets in the eighteenth century led to another proliferation of ideas, and some revolutionary attacks on established institutions, as in the case of Thomas Paine's Common Sense. In the twentieth century pamphleteers like George Orwell had a major impact. So has Brian Lamb, who took advantage of the emergence of cable TV to create c-span. Maney calls Lamb the "first video blogger." Today, internet bloggers have brought about important changes in the way news is collected, processed and distributed.
Maney sees a long historical process in all of this. He writes:
That's all very much part of the sweep of history. The cost of producing, distributing and managing information has steadily fallen — and will keep falling. Traditional barriers to entry disappear. Newcomers stick their noses in. Existing media have to adjust by playing the new game (traditional media outlets starting Web sites) and/or creating high-end products that offer something the "amateurs" can't touch.
This of course is simply another example of a principle familiar to economists and business historians: "monopoly invites competition." It is altogether healthy and normal and takes place in many areas other than information services. It is part of the way the world works.
Blogging may not be unprecedented, but it is important. And it might well be revolutionary, a point that Maney acknowledges when he asks "Who among bloggers is another Thomas Paine?"
Read the whole thing here.
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