Straits Times and the Blogs II

March 1, two more weeks before ST starts charging for access to the online version. The Singapore Blogosphere continues to be abuzz concerning the implications, with new posts by Mr. Brown and Singapore Ink. Most are not happy, though some lament that there aren't too many alternatives to turn to (UPDATE: others disagree, pointing to a whole range of possibilities). One blogger going by "YC" makes an extended and very interesting comparison between ST and South China Morning Post's online policies; but this particular bit caught my eye:

ST fills a niche that is not readily replaced ... yet. Perhaps Singapore bloggers would like to attempt to be online editors focusing on niche areas similar to ST's - trawl for news from various Singapore online news sources like *.gov.sg, CNA, Yahoo, Today and see what kind of "consolidation" we can achieve.

First, I think Singaporean bloggers are already doing the "trawling" thing, though the various efforts (e.g., Singapore Speaks) are still fairly diffused at this stage. In any case, my position remains that blogs are not genuine substitutes for traditional journalism.

It's the "online editors" bit that really got my attention. A few posts ago, I put forward the thought that blogs can potentially render the ST Forum and Editorial pages redundant--or more modestly, render them to be at best one channel among many. AcidFlask agrees and came forward with examples of how the ST editors mangled forum letters. At the most basic level, it is exactly as MM Lee said to someone who complained that his letters to the forum were not published (except one; now two):

Well, you have the Internet - put up a website. You know how to put up a website? If you don't, I know a friend who can help you. (ST, Feb 1, via here)

Putting up a blog (or website in general) is now unimaginably easy. But the hard part is what comes after that--who's going to come to your site? How much of an audience can it possibly reach? (Now if a Mr. Brown would be so kind as to link to your site, that might help...but how are you to get his attention?) On the other hand, if one's letter is published--even mangled--in ST Forum, one can be guaranteed a audience; and make that a pretty decently sized one too. And if the letter is provocative, there would usually be responses as well. So we need not be surprised that MM Lee's advise did not impress the person addressed (judging by his subsequent choice of submitting a letter to the Forum Page, rather than start his own blog, at least, one that I've come across).

The obvious question: so much for potential, but what are the conditions that must be met if the blogs are to actually rival--even bury--ST in its editorializing, commenting and punditry function? Put another way: what exactly are the missing ingredients? (I do not think that we actually need individual blogs to command large audiences in order for this to happen--the reason has something to do with "the long tail"). I would certainly like to hear from readers on this one.

YC ended his post with the following proposal:

Oh, one last thing on "paid subscriptions". Perhaps bloggers should start charging MSMs too if they make references or obtain their sources from blogs. But this will only apply to MSMs that charge for their online editions ... and they'll be charged an annual rate of S$120 for up to 7 day's worth of blogs ... anything over 7 days, the charges leveed will be S$900 for an annual subscription and an additional S$2 per blog (not including GST and subjected to changes ... naturally). Oh, and we'd even allow you to search brother/sister blogs that we're linked to too.

Hah! Good one.

UPDATE: Next post on this matter is here.