A substantial portion of the world's bloggers devote themselves to finding and pointing out mistakes in The New York Times. So it's only natural that Times articles about bloggers get a substantial amount of attention online.

Today the most popular article in the Times's
technology section is about blogger burnout – the long hours and
terrible diet that seem to be required to maintain a popular blog.
(Usual disclosure: I sometimes write for the Times.) Two
popular bloggers recently died of heart conditions, according to the
story, while a third recently survived a heart attack. As the piece
dutifully says, this hardly qualifies as an epidemic, and it's hard to
be sure whether the stress of these bloggers' jobs contributed to their
health problems. As it goes on, however, the article makes me glad I'm
not blogging full time.

Among an elite group of bloggers – the
relatively small amount of people who cover technology and run their
sites as businesses – the rhythm of a news cycle that never stops can
be punishing. Apparently, some now subsist on a diet and exercise
regimen that seems better suited to cramming college students than
middle-aged men. Getting up – to socialize, get lunch, or go for a walk
– can mean getting beaten on an important piece of news. News generates
traffic, which in turn generates money. The less you get out of the
chair, the more money you make.

This isn't an entirely new idea.
Journalism has always been a competitive business that prizes scoops.
And every journalist constructs his life according to the rhythm of the
world he covers, from the monthly magazine editor who works late every
fourth week to the daily reporter who hits the bar after the early
edition goes to press. It just so happens that, on the Internet, the
news cycle is one of minutes rather than months, days, or even hours.
So online journalists – and that's what these bloggers are – simply
stay on deadline. This doesn't sound like much fun.

It also might not make for very good journalism. Although the Times article
doesn't get into this much, these Internet sites have also changed the
news cycle. Since bloggers are paid by the page view, directly or
indirectly, they have to generate a certain amount of copy whether
events warrant it or not. That lowers the bar on what constitutes news.
Sites that cover video games and gadgets, for example, get several
"news items" out of a single product release, from initial details to
final reviews. Sometimes, photos of a product or its packaging
constitute a separate story – or even an "exclusive."

This
doesn't leave much time for coffee breaks, analysis, or anything that
qualifies as thinking. I'd say more about this myself, but I've got
another story to write. Have to make a living, you know.