Legal Commentary

I'm not much of a Ron Rosenbaum fan, but I very much like this piece in Slate arguing against "new media guru" hype. It's a nice counter to the usual blog triumphalism and disdain for the actual discipline of journalism that pervades and pollutes so many corners of the blogosphere, most certainly including the legal blogosphere. (Somewhat ironically, perhaps, since most of us make our living teaching law -- and it is probably not much harder to be a good lawyer without the benefit of professional training and experience than it is to be a good journalist.) It serves as a healthy reminder that there is a qualitative difference between actually spending several years reporting, say, a 100,000-word piece on police torture, and thinking that you can become King David by typing "Indeed." at the end of a link to someone else's work.

Additional irony alert: It's in Slate.