Man, what a concession!

Time magazine acknowledges blogs:

Over the past five years, blogs have gone from an obscure and, frankly, somewhat nerdy fad to a genuine alternative to mainstream news outlets, a shadow media empire that is rivaling networks and newspapers in power and influence.

Note the astonishment: But it turns out some people actually have interesting thoughts on a regular basis. As if only journalists were thought to have interesting thoughts prior to Instapundit.

I suppose a national news magazine can't cover just any story until it achieves critical mass, but the apparent surprise of the writer is what I find so interesting in this story and the arrogance and contempt for the rest of society it reveals.