Open knowledge

ANDREW SULLIVAN SAYS: 'THE INTERNET DID IT'

Prominent blogger-journalist Andrew Sullivan, former editor of the New Republic magazine, says that the Internet should be given much of the credit for forcing the resignation of top New York Times editors Howell Raines and Gerald Boyd: "Only, say, five years ago, the editors of the New York Times had much more power than they have today. If they screwed up, no one would notice much. A small correction would be buried days, sometimes weeks, later... The blogosphere in general created a growing chorus of criticism that helped create public awareness of exactly what Raines was up to."

Sullivan quotes a letter from one of his readers: "Now in newspaper journalism, as in so many other traditional industries (real estate, banking, computers, retail sales, airlines, travel, etc.), we see that the Internet strips away discretion, power and secrecy.

It is very hard to withstand the forced transparency induced by this new technology." To which Sullivan adds: "And you ain't seen nothing yet." (The Daily Dish 6 Jun 2003)

• http://www.andrewsullivan.com