I suppose the one difference between blogs and "existing media" is that blogs can act as a massive re-enforcement of existing views. If you believe that the BBC is, say, massively biased, then you won’t find much to support this view by watching CNN or ITV news, but you can spend many a happy hour browsing various, as you put it, category 2 blogs. Furthermore, because the internet works by interaction, while existing media is much more passive, it’s rather easier to avoid blogs which don’t fit your view of the world than it is in the off-line world. Although I do sometimes wonder what world view one would have from only reading the Daily Mail.
So in terms of influence, you are completely right. But from the perspective of someone writing a category 2 blog, I imagine it might well appear that the blog world is full of "right-on, sensible people who believe just what I do" whereas the established media is full of nutters. I certainly know that, after an hour reading endless "left-leaning" blogs, I’ve come away thinking the world is ending, only to spend a week without internet access, but with a newspaper, to realise that the world isn’t quite going to the dogs yet.
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