Kevin Drum shows an odd moment of sartorial anxiety, but his weird choice of quote aside, thanks to him for pointing me to this profile of financial blogger Felix Salmon by Marion Maneker. Here's an excerpt more representative of the tone of the piece than the one Drum chose, I think:
But every writer scribbles with an ideal reader in mind. Salmon is no exception. He may not covet the biggest audience but he does yearn for the best and most influential reader: "It’s a known fact," he says, "that Larry Summers reads a lot of blogs."
If that sort of audience is what he’s after, I ask, why not become a regular on CNBC? "Because Larry Summers doesn’t watch CNBC and say,'‘Oh my God, that’s interesting, I should actually think about that when conducting economic policy.’ CNBC is people shouting at each other. If we were to get into a screaming match about health care reform, it doesn’t matter how smart we are, we’re not going to be shedding any light. Whereas the blogosphere is really good at drilling down very quickly to the nub of the question. People talk about it like it’s the best graduate seminar ever invented."
Ah, who knows. Maybe Drum was just goofing around.
Anyway, Felix Salmon is at the very least an interesting person who bears a listen. Maneker's otherwise worthwhile piece did not mention the channel through which I know him best: his diavlogs on Bloggingheads.tv. He's both wonky -- I've learned as much about last autumn's financial meltdown from him as I have from anyone -- and fun in lots of other ways. He has opinions on art and wine, for example, that are a delight to hear. Plus, he's on a mission to expose Ben Stein for the con man that he is. Check Felix out there on Bh.tv, and see his blog here.
No comments:
Post a Comment