News-Record.com

Rich Gordon at the Readership Institute compares and contrasts how two stories were picked up and distributed through traditional newspaper channels and through blogs.

Both of these articles are about privacy in the digital age. Both were distributed through the Associated Press and were therefore available to any news organization -- traditional media or Web sites -- that subscribed to the AP. And both were also available on the News21 Web site. But the stories earned public attention through very different means.

The short answer: one was picked up by a bunch of papers and got a lot of eyeballs that way. The other was spread virally through blogs and pretty much ignored by papers. Welcome, he says, to the Long Tail.

Rich lists the lessons he draws. I'd add:

* The power of search engines can't be underestimated.
* Every topic draws a degree of interest among a percentage of the audience. The topic is not irrelevant in this case, either. Newspapers have a bias in favor of those with a civic/taxpayer orientation.
* Finding a Paris Hilton angle helps.

Then there is Dan Blank, writing about the rise of the little people: When the goal is truly to inform, to express, and to grow -- both sides have the same goals. As each adjusts to understand where media is headed, how journalism will grow, and how each will be funded, I hope that we find more in common, than we find to divide us.

Unfortunately, I can't do his post justice so you'll have to follow the link yourself. But the joy is how he came to the above conclusion. A hint: he uses Transformers and Fisher Price Little People.