Okay, so bloggers weren't named TIME's People of the Year
(Pres. Bush won that honor), but the magazine did cover the blogging
phenomenon in two separate articles in the same issue.
Unfortunately, access is limited to subscribers. Here's a
preview:
"10 Things We Learned About Blogs."
1) Blogging can get you fired, 2) Bloggers get scoops too, 3) Bloggers
keep news alive, 4) Bloggers can be titillating, 5) Bloggers can be
fakers, 6) Bloggers make money, 7) More bloggers are women, 8)
Candidates love blogs, 9) Pets have blogs too, and 10) Anyone can do it.
"Historians may well date the golden age of the blog from 2004."
"Blogs Have Their Day." TIME focuses on how three lawyers (TIME calls them amateur journalists) John Hinderaker, Scott Johnson, and Paul Mirengoff, put Dan Rather in the hot seat with their Power Line blog.
"Before this year, blogs were a curiosity, a cult phenomenon, a faintly
embarrassing hobby on the order of ham radio and stamp collecting. But
in 2004, blogs unexpectedly vaulted into the pantheon of major media,
alongside TV, radio and, yes, magazines, and it was Power Line, more
than any other blog, that got them there." I have to admit,
I had never heard of Power Line until the 60 Minutes-Bush National
Guard Memos fiasco, but it's a great example of the "power of one," or
in this case the power of three and what is possible with the blogging
medium.
"Conventional media may have more readers than blogs do, but
conventional media can't leverage those readers the way blogs can. Want
a glimpse of the future of blogs? The more popular blogs are, the
stronger they get. And they're not getting any less popular."
So while bloggers didn't make the cover, I'd very much classify this as due interest from TIME and an honorable mention to say the least.