How out of it is Network News?

Last night, ABC's Nightline promised "Murtha like you've never heard him before!" I didn't watch. I mean, Murtha? Who cares about what he has to say?

Then it dawned on me. The blogosphere is like a market for news. It has already taken Murtha into account and discounted his value. He's so last week.

I heard recently a description of a young pro quarterback describing how things had "slowed down" for him, meaning that he was no longer overwhelmed by everything going on around him on the field. Reality hadn't slowed down, but his perceptions had speeded up. He was noticing more, learning what his coachs had been telling him, many of the things he had been thinking about were becoming automatic, freeing his mind for other things.

Reading blogs has done something similar for me. I often watch the evening news now and it sounds like yesterday's news, because I've heard it discussed on talk radio during the day and read comments about it on the web.