Brian at daedalnexus notes Kristof’s NYT story on the impact bloggers are having in China: “Now, if only we could get bloggers to do this here in the U.S.”

The problem, of course, is that reporting like that being done by Li Xinde is a job. You can’t do it without financial means. This is something that any number of commentators, including my journalism go-to guy drdenny, have noted – US blogging today is 99+% second-hand riffing on raw reportage generated by traditional news agencies, and that’s its greatest weakness. I feel like I occasionally contribute to the conversation, but trust me, I’m painfully aware that I’m not breaking any new stories.

People doing it after work and on their coffee breaks don’t have the time and resources to do the important footwork, and this is why I say that, despite all of the J industry’s shortcomings, the blogosphere is a long way from replacing it….