There was a time when Time magazine was a truly national magazine, without an obvious political agenda and as such, was a valuable resource for newshounds. I think that time was for a year or two in the mid-1970s.
Alas, those days are gone. What better evidence is there for this than their current list of the Top 25 Blog Sites for 2009? I was discouraged and outraged when I discovered that my own blog "A Model Media Ecologist" is not considered by Time magazine's editors to be one of the top 25 blogs (in the country, the world, the blogosphere?). Time seems to be completely unaware that A Model Media Ecologist won the Blogger of the Year Award (see here).
Here's a media ecological question. Why aren't magazines in trouble like newspapers? Specifically, why isn't Time in jeopardy?
I realize that such sour grapes are unbecoming of a model media ecologist. Time magazine has as much right to exist as the next mainstream media publication, biases and all. Of course, you may wonder why any of the mainstream media should be judging and ranking any of the new media in the first place. Isn't there a conflict of interest there?
I wrote an imaginary letter of complaint to Time and received this imaginary reply:
Dear (your blog name here):
We appreciate your concern about the many worthy blog sites that did not make it into our pantheon of the Top 25. Perhaps it will be of some solace to you to be told (and this is completely off the record) that your own blog missed it by only that much; that is, (your blog name here) came in at 26!
Congratulations, and better luck next year!
Sincerely,
Time Magazine
It is some solace, but not much. I might feel better if my imaginary Time magazine correspondent had taken the trouble to actually type the name of my blog into his boilerplate.
Oh well, its on to the Peabody Awards!
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