a good star blog

No sooner do I diss the Star's early forrays into the blogosphere when I happen across a really good one, Bill's "Faith Matters" Weblog.

Now this is how you do it. He provides good info and lots of links to interesting stuff around the web. But above all it's honest and authentic. I get a real sense of who Bill is when I read this blog, and that makes me trust him. He's willing to be vulnerable, to stand out there in cyberspace as a human being, not some professional contrivance of humanity. And this, I think, is key to journalists' success in this new forum of blogs. My sense is that the reason why blogs are so popular is because they humanize information. They let you get your news from friends. And, conversely, that's part of the reason why newspapers are losing popularity. They aspire to that God's-eye view that's impossible to obtain, that savvy info consumers are coming to resent more and more.

And furthermore (I say from my soap box, wagging a pointy finger), this'll make for better journalists. If blogs can make journalists more trustworthy to consumers, I think they'll also make us more trustworthy to sources, and that'll make for better stories.

Good job, Bill! This one's definitely going to be a daily read.