Fred Simmons

Fred Simmons is a media critic and analyst living in both Washington D.C. and New York.

When word got out that Maureen Dowd accidentally published part of Josh Marshall’s blog under her own name in a column in the New York Times, more than one blogger reacted with unconcealed glee. It was an understandable and obviously inadvertent error, but for some, a satisfying one nevertheless.

No—Dowd’s accident is yet another sign of how traditional media outlets are increasingly taking cues from the reporters who populate the blogosphere. And contrary to popular mythology, not everyone in the mainstream media has been loath to admit this.

This symbiosis has been long coming. But it’s increasingly evident every day as Internet-based reporters are increasingly setting priorities for the national news agenda. Greg Sargent, of the American Prospect, lauded Murray Waas , an independent web reporter, for unearthing the truth about the outing of Valerie Plame and prodding the mainstream media onward in 2006. Jay Rosen crowned Murray Waas the “Woodward of now,” explaining that the actual “Woodward of now,” Bob W