More 4th Estate hand-wringing

Do journalists have fun any more, asks William Powers of The National Journal.

We talk about the difference between bloggers and mainstreamers as if it were just a matter of attitude: Bloggers have pluck. But the more important difference may be that while mainstreamers cry in their beer -- or their herbal tea -- about the sorry state of journalism, those troublemaking bloggers are, in the finest tradition of hackdom, simply having a blast.

Reminds me of a conversation I had awhile back with a Houston Chronicle reporter. I said I didn't really read the paper all that closely anymore.

To which they said, "Me neither."

ADDENDUM:
FrontBurner says layoffs likely at Dallas Morning News.