Robbie sez:
“I think that the Austin blogosphere has magnified the inadequacy of our local newspaper, the Austin American Statesman. With the breadth and depth of coverage provided by Austin Blogs, it’s glaring how much the Statesman misses, under reports, reports incorrectly, or reports with so much Left-leaning bias as to be laughable.”

The Austin blogosphere is a blessing in disguise for the Statesman. A few weeks ago, I attended “The Blogging Enterprise” conference that featured a panel with Fred Zipp, Managing Editor of the Austin American Statesman. Responding to a question about talk radio and ethics, Mr. Zipp launched into a diatribe claiming declining newspapers sales are caused by – I’m not making this up! – less demand for verification in reporting. He claimed media consumers would rather have their thoughts repeated back to them and suggested the rise of alternative media represented a grave danger to civility.

Talk about myopic!

As you suggest above, the Austin blogosphere can bring back some accountability and reality to the local MSM, thus saving it from itself.

Read more about the travails of Texas media here