QUEUE THE WESTERN THEME MUSIC
And now there is a new open source community in town... Open Source Media; A.K.A, the Blogosphere!

In using the word "media," I do not mean to imply, as others have, that I am referring to audio, video, or other such types of "mass communication" tools. I mean, "the Media" as defined on Dictionary.com:

media (used with a sing. or pl. verb) The group of journalists and others who constitute the communications industry and profession.

In other words, we have the traditional media, the new media, and now, the Open Source Media. And the open source media community, AKA, the Blogosphere, has become a force to be reckoned with.

BLOGOSPHERE=OPEN SOURCE MEDIA (OSM)
So, what leads me to believe that the Blogosphere is the open source media community that I'm claiming it to be? Here are two pieces of evidence:

1. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of journalists and radio and/or TV personalities have their own blogs. For them, blogging is fun. They can write what they want, when they want to, and the way they want to write it. They are a one-person newsroom. A good example of this is with Hugh Hewitt, a popular radio personality whose Blog has become quite popular and whose articles and comments are often cited and published on various news sites. Another blog I enjoy reading is Michelle Malkin's personal blog. Michelle is an author and a regular commentator for Fox News.

2. Both traditional and new media is increasingly aware of and willing to draw on content gleaned from the Blogosphere. For example, James Taranto's "Best Of The Web Today" column, which is posted weekdays on Opinionjournal.com, the Wall Street Journal's online opinion column. Taranto uses a network of bloggers for many of his stories. Inversely, bloggers use his material constantly when posting information to their sites.
   

Ultimately, there is a continual flow of information from mainstream and alternate media into the OSM community, and then, in some select cases, back again into the mainstream and alternate media. I predict that as the Blogosphere continues to grow in both content and in respectability, the flow of OSM content to mainstream and alternate media will grow as well.

So, why is this new "Open Source" media community worthy of respect?