The Ossification of the Blogosphere

Has the progressive blogosphere become closed to new voices? Specifically, would it even be possible today for some no name blogger to move into the A or even B list of progressive blogs in a short time? Or have Kos, Atrios, Yglesias, etc. become progressive blog versions of the mainstream media?

I suppose this kind of thing is somewhat inevitable. Once people get established as smart voices and have large readerships, they are likely to keep those readers. Readers also have a limited amount of time and aren't likely to go searching for new blogs.

But I think this is sad. One of the great things about blogs in 2004 and into 2005 was that these young smart people like Ezra Klein, Matthew Yglesias, and Jessica Valenti found a way to make their voices heard throughout the nation. They had valuable viewpoints that contradicted the tired old punditry. But what about today's 23 year olds, fresh out of college? How does the Yglesias of 2008 get his or her voice heard?

Of course, a little bit of this is jealousy. Now I'm not saying that this blog should be an A list blog--among other things we write too inconsistently. But I also know that no matter how good this blog was, it would be very difficult to attract a large readership today. This isn't a slam on those big blogs either. Some are very deserving of their readership. With others, I don't see what anyone gets from them. But as a whole, they are good blogs.

Chris Bowers also has some interesting thoughts on this matter and on the development of the progressive blogosphere more generally.