Considering blogger Mick Fealty began blogging "by accident", the deal between Slugger O'Toole and Channel 4's 4iP is an interesting development.
Speaking to CoJo's David Haywarda month ago, there was a grassroots edginess to Slugger O'Toole in the way Mick Fealty described the blog and reach. Back in October, Mick stressed the unique position the blog had alongside journalism. In light of a lack of resources to pay 'good journalists' to go out and do 'good journalism', the site acted as a powerpack to other journalists to do the job instead: "It's not about handling mass audiences," he added.
Writing on 4iP's blog today, Ewan McIntosh described the development as a "co-investment" and "a means of exploring localised political debate at scale".
McIntosh ascribes an impressive byline to the Slugger site, describing it as the journalist's "watering hole of choice".
And yet the large readership which Fealty and his team of bloggers have built up over the past seven years is a massive draw for Channel 4 and 4iP. Just look at the banner graphic at the top of the 4iP blog: "Rethinking public service media." First on the list is a revamp to make the site more accessible to "newbies" in a currently crowded market, in pursuit of making the site's ethic penetrate the mainstream. It's not just a watering-hole, then.
Does this represent 4iP buying up an audience and, if so, will it water-down Slugger O'Toole's reputation? Or, once that all-important redesign is complete, will it demonstrate a keen eye for the benefit on public service media of emerging newswires, a sign of bloggers and blogging's rising reputation and much-needed validation?
