America's Next Top Pundit is You

The Wall Street Journal had an article on Friday discussing how political talk shows are scouring the country for pundit talent to showcase on their stations. It completely misses what's happening on the way opinion is being distributed. Here's the key paragraph.

Every morning, Tammy Haddad, executive producer of MSNBC's "Hardball with Chris Matthews," hears from more than 100 aspiring commentators. They each explain why they'd be the perfect guest to spout off on the issues of the day. "We call them 'street meat,' " says Ms. Haddad. "They're always available, walking the streets, waiting for your call on their cellphones."

Chris Matthews is a ratings disaster. In an environment where dinosaurs like MSNBC are getting killed by the new media, it's illuminating to hear private content creators referred to so dismissively. It's the cow sneering at each inidividual piranha as he gets stripped to the bone.

The article focuses primarily on "B-List" commentator Debbie Schlussel. Who made the decision that Debbie is a B-List commentator? I would bet that Debbie's trend line is going up. Chris Matthews lines are most certainly going down. I read a little from Debbie's blog. Interesting stuff, that. It's certainly better than Chris Matthews' work, who's take on just about everything seems to have been made up during conversations with his make-up artist.

Between now and the time that MSNBC slips down into the noise of the Long Tail, bloggers and other content creators will use them to gain popularity and name recognition. It's not MSNBC exploiting the bloggers for ratings. It's the bloggers exploiting MSNBC.