Pros-turned-bloggers

James Wolcott was "a columnist on media and pop culture for publications such as Esquire, Harper's, and New York magazine", and is presently a Vanity Fair contributing editor [http://jameswolcott.com]. He turned a blogger in September 2004, with an in medias res start - making no overt references to clarify why he starts this blog, what his purpose is or who he thinks his audience might be. His opening post on September 2, 2004 centers around Zell Miller's speech to the Republican National Convention the previous night. It's as if he was suggesting that: "I am an acknowledged, widely recognized commentator of American politics and public life, and I doubt that there is anyone in this country as naive as to believe I would write about anything else but what I always write about."

There is hardly any trace of personal sidecomments about his life or meta-musings about his newly found medium and his writing. Wolcott's blog is not a fan site, but rather remains strictly within the domain of journalistic commentary. I have the hunch that he does not consider this new medium a source to refreshen his own writing, but simply an eighth tentacle to reach out to the avid readers of his columns in the print media. "Anyone needs more of me? Go online and read my blog!" His opionion posts look disorganized, which further confirms my impression that it is meant to be an extension of his columns, for readers who are already familar with the backgrounds of events, and are just looking for additional opinions.

In closing, let me just say that it was quite difficult for me to understand what he is writing about in his blog. Jane Hamsher, Peter Fitzgerald, Scooter, Rover Boy, Diana Ross, Bill Bennett, John McWhorter, Robert George, Plamegate, Lauren Bacall, John Derbyshire, Karen Hughes etc. - just to mention a couple of names who I have no idea about since coming from Hungary I am totally unfamiliar with American politics. It is difficult for me to read the NY Times as well, but not impossible because there I get the background information I need to comrehend the cultural references in the column. But Wolcott's blog is so dense with references that beyond an overall grasp of his style and content it remained largely inaccessible to me.