Eamonn Fitzgerald's Rainy Day

Images of candles and quill pens come to mind when one thinks of Britain's oldest Sunday newspaper, the Observer, but that's only half the picture. Behind the scenes, the new media savvy Guardian is hard at work and that means internet, lots of internet. Then there's the zeitgeist. Now that foxhunting has been outlawed, the young bucks who throng London's coffee houses are getting restless and their thoughts are turning to pamphleteering — the electronic kind. Not wishing to be left behind, the Observer revealed yesterday that it has a blog. Announcing the decision to get on board the departing train, Rafael Behr noted that the old Fleet Street verities are currently getting a right pasting from the citizen scribes: "The speed and brutal effectiveness with which they are held to account is already crossing over into the mainstream. Ultimately, it will change the way political and cultural debate is conducted." Indeed it will. And with the overthrow of Dan Rather and the expulsion of Eason Jordan clearly very much on his mind, Behr adds:

"Old media, meanwhile, historically see their relationship with power in adversarial terms. But they are also traditionally gatekeepers of information — much of which is now being shared peer-to-peer on the internet. That makes them increasingly look like accomplices of power.

In a world where people get their news on screen, a reputation for independence, accuracy, good judgment accrues to a brand, which can as easily be an individual at home in pyjamas as a bricks and mortar institution. The good news for old media is that their brands are as powerful online as off. People still prefer bbcnews.com to lonenutter.com. The bad news is that mistakes and omissions are exposed at a hyper-accelerated rate. Whether you make bike locks or news, your brand can quickly turn to dust."

So, how does the Observer blog stack up? It's very good, actually. Best bits? The podcast of John Naughton's weekly internet column, the compactness of the posts, the tasteful use of images and the links via del.icio.us. Welcome to the conversation.