At a blogging panel with Terrance Heath, Pam Spaulding, Digby, Tracy Russo, Chris Bowers, and Ari Melber, the message seems to be that the blogosphere's role has become not that of the watchdog, but more like a dogwalker with a very long leash. When the media tends to go out too far on a limb -- one example that keeps coming up is Chris Matthews' sexist commentary -- the blogosphere tends to rally around that cause, writing and encouraging the readers to take action. Eventually, the dog (media) runs out of rope and (hopefully) comes snapping back, tail between its legs.

Heath began to talk about how there's not just The Blogosphere, but there are many smaller orbits that focus around an issue or identity. Some stories just wouldn't exist if these small orbits didn't exist. Bowers noted that linking patterns indicate there are many different blogospheres. The spheres themselves have become more diverse.

I'm blogging about a panel about blogging. Whoa. Meta.