The question of what constitutes a blogger and what protections should be provided has stalled a proposed federal shield law for more than two years. Former New York Times columnist William Safire told a Senate committee that he thinks "the lonely pamphleteer has the same rights" as the Times. Indeed, Aaron Barlow, author of the new book "The Rise of the Blogosphere," calls Ben Franklin "the patron saint of the blogs."

Nor must a journalist be on the spot at news events. Barlow points to legendary muckraker I.F. "Izzy" Stone, whose weekly political newsletter went to 70,000 homes. "What Stone discovered and what bloggers are rediscovering is that effective reporting entails a great deal more than direct observation," Barlow writes.

and over on the Greg Palast thread on Dkos...this kudo to the ePluribus Media researchers...and I know I left some out!

Epluribus-
The people over at epluribus are way ahead of everyon on this http://scoop.epluribusmedia.org/...

-Zachary Roberts Staff, Greg Palast Office

by GregPalast on Wed May 23, 2007 at 05:43:54 PM EDT

No, thank YOU! Really!
I have nothing but good things to say about ePluribus Media. Now there's a crew with focus.
IWT; voting rights overview, timeline
by AlanF on Thu May 24, 2007 at 12:19:33 PM EDT