Do Blogs Matter?

That’s what an old friend asked me after I told him that I had started blogging again. I think Jason Cherniak demonstrated their effectiveness here. My blog has never experienced much traffic (about 50 visitors a day at its peak), but it did get mentioned once in the local media. From Niagara This Week in February 2006:

Craitor, who sits with the Dalton McGuinty Liberal government, said he's been asked by a few people what his intentions are for running for mayor. The MPP said the questions are arising because of a blog on the Internet by local politics watchdog Larry Savage. On his Website, Savage said he had heard rumours that Craitor would be running for mayor and approached the MPP at a federal election debate in early January to ask what his intentions were.

Craitor dismissed the rumour at the time, but funnily enough, months later, he mused publicly about his intention to run for the mayor’s job, but for health reasons, decided against it. Besides demystifying the importance of professional watchdogs, pundits and spin doctors, bloggers can fill an important void, especially in smaller urban centres, where investigative reporting is almost non-existent.