Grandma's House

Ladies and gentlemen, today is a blue ribbon day in blogdom. The White House press room has made room for a blogger! Garrett Graff who writes a blog about the Washington news media, has been given credentials to attend daily press briefings in the White House. Way to go, Garrett!

UPDATE: Okay, the blue ribbon award has been recalled. I found out that Mr. Graff does have a website, but he's not what you'd call a regular blogger. Here's the difference, according to Steve at Hog on Ice:

The "blogger" is Garrett M. Graff, a 23-year-old employee of a company called Mediabistro.com. His official title is "editor." The "blog" is FishbowlDC, a site decorated with all the little corporate features sites like Yahoo have. A contact email address which doesn't go to the "blogger." A disclaimer. A copyright notice. A site map. The "blog" has no comments, and there are no trackbacks.

Hold on, there's more. By the time you finish this, you'll know the difference between a blog and a corporate website:

A blogger pays his own bills. A blogger has comments, if at all possible. A blogger does his own writing or chooses a few friends to help. A blogger has trackbacks. A blogger links to other REAL bloggers, not the mainstream dorks Graff links to.

A blogger is not an "editor." A blogger does not receive a salary, unless it's from a corporation he himself formed as a result of making money from a genuine blog. A blogger does not have interns. A blogger--most importantly--has NO ONE to answer to.

Steve is absolutely right. Now when the White House press office gives credentials to someone like the Powerline guys, or INDC Bill, or one of the guys at Wizbang, then we'll break out the party favors. Until then, we'll just keep plugging along, and watching the mainstream media die their slow death.