The networking capacity of blogs allows them to link to all sorts of media, rapidly and live. For example, how much more effective is it to view or hear the recording of a voter being intimidated, rather than to read about his story? 

In a New York Times article by Tom Zeller, Mr. Zittrain, an Internet governance professor at Oxford University, said blogs are "helping to set the agenda for the mainstream media in fast-moving events like this. They just need to be able to produce enough that’s credible quickly to give a lead."

A number of important US newspapers (such as USA Today or The Chicago Tribune) accepted citizen journalists’ contributions concerning any and all election mishaps and voting experiences.

By and by, most political bloggers still rely on traditional sources of news – such as newspapers – to furnish their articles and pick up their leads. But more and more blogs obtain their own ‘exclusive’ leads, or pick up leaks from a traditional news source before the latter releases the information.

Frank Barnako from Marketwatch.com recognizes that thousands of successful bloggers now earn substantial income through their blogging activity and are becoming influential figures of the news world.

Newspapers will have to get used to successful bloggers' newly-acquired credibility and to their own new role, not only providing news for blogs, but also complementing and using them for their own reports.

Source : NYTimes, editorandpublisher.com