Intelligent Aggregation: TheIssue.com
The previous post on this blog just got picked up by theissue.com - which describes itself as a "blog newspaper."
The site describes itself as follows:
The Issue is a non-partisan blog newspaper that provides a window to an emerging world of diverse and informed opinions. We cull the blogosphere for its wise insights, probing analyses, and diverse perspectives, drawing together a borderless newspaper. By combining the democratization and diversity of new media with the format and editorial standards of traditional news, we hope to offer a hybrid news source that provides the best of both worlds.
Now I don't usually believe anyone who says they're non-partisan (all the Republican attack sites do this), but I do understand the concept. In essence, this is a very valuable function, one that delivers real value to the busy reader.
I think we're about to see a flood of these blog aggregators in the marketspace - many of them tightly focused on niche topics.
The news media is actually fairly weak at blog aggregation, even though it's a technique which could help them drive traffic and revenue. Especially if they'd embed videos.