Is Blogging the New Fourth Estate?

I was at the Outdoor Retailer tradeshow yesterday. As I used to publish magazines in the industry, it feels good to get back to your roots. One of the more interesting conversations I had was with the crew from www.thepiton.com. A few of the industry veterans who have wanted to create an anonymous source for people to rap about what was really happening in the industry, including the good, the bad and the ugly. As in many other industries, the publications have fallen into the trap of only talking about the good news, even getting to the point of republishing press releases. In fear of loosing advertising dollars, these pubs have conveniently forgotten to write about anything that may cause a stir, no matter how honest it might be. This compromised agenda of journalism is not only an issue in the outdoor industry but everywhere in society as publishers have begun to view themselves as businesses, no longer having the independence of the Fourth Estate. Maybe instead of journalists, bloggers are the new Fourth Estate offering a fresh, honest perspective.