I would say become bloggers as well, not instead - develop your personal brand, consider new revenue opportunities, and associated community streams. I just read The Search by John Battelle. Superb journalism. Top notch. He said he couldnt have done it without his blog.

My argument is with those that would attack blogs as something inferior, or by definition bad, or a poor information source. Maybe that’s a straw man - but its a behaviour I see a lot.

I am an industry analyst but I welcome bloggers into my space. Great analysis is great whether its on redmonk.com or anywhere else. I celebrate a broader, more inclusive conversation, and a reduced influence of the Tell It From The Mountain school of industry advisory.

I wouldn’t want to be a “professional blogger” either - because I like to get paid and I already have a model that allows that, without working for a big media company. But nor would I dismiss the quality of expertise and theory-based analysis on blogs.

Also notice I said Marxist, not socialist. Taking over the means of production was a key element in earning a fair wage, according to Marx’s theory, rather than being abused by the system, by those that own the means of production. Capitalist eats itself, according to Marx - he was a theorist of creative destruction as much as anything else. See the music industry…

But forget the theory. What’s important is finding a well enough paid job that offers some freedom and some security and some job satisfaction. I don’t think there are many of those in print or online media today.

I am an entrepreneur myself and recommend others follow the same route. Blogging is one of the key tools of the entrepreneur in 2007.

Its not about navel-gazing but living well.

Journalists defend journalism because it’s our livelihood, and becoming bloggers instead means we wouldn’t get paid.

As far as I can tell, so far there’s been no demonstrable business model for news blogging. Even the big names, with some exceptions, are struggling.

I’m no political scholar, but surely the socialist movement is/was about adequately compensating workers for their labor, not about asking them to work for free or a slave wage.

Personally, if I thought I could make a proper salary blogging, I’d quit in a second and celebrate Marxist theory until the cows come home.