Interesting article from the NYTimes, A Blog Revolution? Get a Grip covering Nick Denton's Gawker Media, whose collection of sites include the popular Gizmodo, Gawker, Fleshbot, Sploid, GridskipperJalopnik. Both Denton's Gawker Media and WegLogs Inc run by Jason Calacanis are pursing an aggregation model using a network of owned web properties run by employees rather than ownership residing with the bloggers.
Stowe Boyd, president of Corante comments that "the editors on Gawker are talented, entertaining and informative, but
also indistinguishable from any freelance writer, with no ownership of
what they produce. These people are hirelings, what they
are cranking out are the 700 words they signed on to produce." "They're pursuing a very clear agenda and they've done very well
with that.. they're just an old media company in new media clothes"
"Blogs primarily excel at marketing and promotion for companies or individuals," Mr. Phillips of I Want Media said. "I think blogging can catapult unknown writers, and it can give them a platform if they're talented. But as a stand-alone business, I think the jury is still out on that." and
Interviews with Jason Calacanis can be found here and here
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