Bloggers tend to spend more time commentating on the news than producing the raw news on which to commentate.

Arianna's vanity

If Arianna continues to be a patron for honest reporting like this, I can almost forgive her front-page updates about the vacation she's taking in Crete.

Almost.

The real treat was her in depth account of how she dropped her main (yes main) Blackberry in the water when crossing from a boat on to a yacht at Cannes during the film festival. She had a back up Blackberry of course darling, but it really just wasn't the same.

about newsrooms getting squeezed to the bones for profits.

the same thing is happening to all local news channels. they are crushing those stations into skeletal staff to reap the last dollars from a declining medium.

American wages are not going up any time soon. Free Trade is gradually pulling us down toward the economic level of the countries on their way up.

Complaining about the other coverage for other readers isn't valid. If your criticism is about the political or media sections, then tell me how HuffPo's approach is so tabloid that you didn't want to go there until Froomkin was hired.

The bottom line is, if you are a 'new reader', the front page matters. It is an indicator, if not the only arbiter, of what the site considers 'important' (by prioritization).

Some current Huffpost front page articles (bolded headlines are ones I would be inclined to read, and listed from top of page downward):

Obama responds to Biden economy remarks

Watch live Michael Jackson's memorial

Palin: "If I Die, I Die, So Be It"

Arianna Huffington: Vacationing with My Ex

WATCH: Wearing Fishing Gear, Palin Tells CNN "All Options Are On The Table"

Geoffrey Dunn Palin Hit With Another Ethics Complaint

Steve McNair Dead

American Flag Bikini Moments: What's YOUR Favorite? (PHOTOS)

Michelle Obama, Family Change Clothes Mid-Flight: MOSCOW MAKEOVER!

Shannyn Moore Sarah Palin Resigning as Alaska's Governor (VIDEO)

Nico Pitney Obama: "Absolutely Not" Giving Israel Green Light To Attack Iran

Politics Al Franken Sees Role As "People's Proxy"

Politics Boehner Stimulus Claim Proved False... What Happened To Bobby Jindal?

Palin: Non-Existent "Department Of Law" Protects The President

For purposes of comparison, today's Firedoglake front page:

“Department of Law”: Basic Civics Not Palin’s Strong Suit

Al Franken Sworn In as United States Senator

Cheney’s Lawyer Already Leaked the Content of Cheney’s “Privileged” Interview

Rahm: White House Open to Triggers

Washington Post Admits Pay-to-Play Dinner Plan was Far Along

For me, this would be a no-brainer based on percentage alone. Especially when you add in the Oxdown Gazette diaries.

I do occasionally go there to scan the headlines, but I rarely stay to read, let alone comment as there are few articles there that I would want to read that aren't already covered well in other places. IOW, there is nothing to really distinguish it to me as something I simply must add to my list.

Until now, that is. ;-}

In the battle royal between Old and New, I also think what's sometimes lost is the extent to which mainstream Americans derive their perspective on the world from sources outside of print and net. When it comes to driving perception and debate in the heartland, cable and network news, for example, continues to be a hugely influential (and unreliable, misleading and superficial) competing source of information. The DC/NY printmeisters? I suspect not so much.

What's interesting to me about this dynamic is how dependent these cable shows are on old [and now "new" media] for their content. They spend most of their time talking about stories developed in other industries and broken and recounted on the front pages of our papers of record. It seems to me that they do very little original reporting--unless you count showing up with a camera and having a talking head standing in front of a place where "news is happening" as reporting.

It's my sincere wish that Mr.Froomkin is simply the first wave of a tsunami of intelligent writers, (regardless of political leanings), who foresake the dead-tree medium for sites such as Salon, HuffPo, etcetera.

It's their own damn fault, and one can hope it also marks the beginning of the end to the inbred, incestuous punditocracy that has defined and restricted political discourse for the last 60-plus years.

Another Bob Woodward or Bill Kristol isn't needed; instead, give us someone who knows politics without being part of the D.C. Mafia.

Pedinska writes:

I do occasionally go there to scan the headlines, but I rarely stay to read, let alone comment as there are few articles there that I would want to read that aren't already covered well in other places.

I don't comment or even read the comments much at HuffPo; similarly, Crooks & Liars I scan, occasionally watch a video on there, and eschew the comment section. There are few blogs or online news columns with good comment sections; but, then again, I have a really low Idiot threshold.

I also meant to write--but forgot--that I agree, that GG has devoted several columns to so-called establishment journalists who continue to do great work...and he just interviewed one a few days ago, Charlie Savage...

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/radio/2009/07/02/savage/index.html

Charlie Savage, however, would easily end up included in today's group of establishment journalists if no asterisk were provided...

God bless Glenn Greenwald. He is an amazing treasure and we are lucky to have him. He retains the best of what Salon has been and offers.

You (and others) sound like you want HuffPo to be like one of the newspapers you are accustomed to. It is a new creature and must and should do things differently. I will judge it on what it is trying to accomplish with the users it wants to attract and not on some old model. It is a trend setter plowing new ground and shaking the status quo seems to bother people who often complain about the status quo.

-- Retired Military Patriot

YOU may be right. I like to sit down with a cup of coffee and read the newspaper, and I hate to see news get turned into a trendy watered down amateur journalism. The 'new creature' needs to set some journalistic standards.

I find the criticism of ALL Washington correspondence pretty much stereo typing. Also if journalist want to get the inside stories, they must develop relationships of trust with politicians sometimes, and respect confidentiality. Online blogs seem to think this is not necessary or wrong.

Right now online journalism is going through what professional graphic design faced with the advent of computer design programs in the 90s...Amateurs thought because they had a design program they could be designers.