But…I applaud what you and the newspapers are doing. I just don’t want to see you become the cheerleader for everything and everyone you consult for. It undermines your credibility.

Likewise, I’m not sure everything should be cheered for.

But overall, I am a strong supporter of the new populism that grows from blogs, and all of it.

There are slightly more than five bajillion and three people writing about new media, if Jarvis is such a problem for you, why not go visit some of them? Here’s a list: http://www.blognetnews.com/newsinnovation

And if you don’t like my list, there are a half-dozen others out there. That’s the beauty of the blogosphere, there are always credible voices out there. You just have to go find them.

Also, I always look carefully when someone would basically label all the interactive stuff a paper does as terrific. Clearly there must be some differentiation. Does it all deserve to be lauded?

You need to call on the Austin American Statesman. They have just about the lamest newspaper blog site on the planet:

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/austin/index.html

Most of the stories are just trite crap that didn’t make the print version - “Fire closes popular pizza restaurant” - and often there are days between new posts. No pictures in the blogs (except, of course, for lots and lots of ads) and no video. There are “reader blogs”, but judging by the lack of comments, no one reads them (although a couple look like they’re OK).

I think “local blogging” is going to turn out to be hard. Lileks makes it look easy, but it’s not; it takes a real writer. The talent pool of good writers just may not be deep enough to cover all communities within a city with one each.

This is part of what paralyzes newspapers and is highlighted in that new NAA report: Everyone is so worried about getting new launches perfect, that new launches are rare. Jeff’s friends deserve credit for getting past that.

A lot of what the Star-Ledger is doing is going to be SOP in a few years — having a local writer cover local social media personalities? That should be as obvious as covering any other influential part of town.

Cooler is just wrong about TV Jersey. On a technical level, the idea is a solid hit, but what makes TV Jersey great is the marketing angle. New Jersey has no TV station of its own, so the local paper uses new media to give it a start at one. A century ago, newspaper men were marketers too and those editor/entreprenuers are the ones who built the economic infrastructure of our industry.

We need folks like that back.

Course, I am trying to make a buck working with newspapers too, so cooler can feel free to ignore me as well.