THE WISDOM OF INSECURITY. Now, now, Other Klein, just because you're already a bundle of authorial anxieties doesn't obviate my point. Two years ago, you were a columnist at (I think) the highest-circulation newsweekly. Whether each column deadline manifested as an icy ball of terror in the pit of your stomach, the authority and preeminence of you, and your publication, was well understood. That may not be how you viewed it, but it's how it was. A few months ago, you and your editors kibbutzed and the decision was made that Time had to establish a foothold in the blogosphere. Thus, Swampland was born. Now, Swampland has done well, racking up an astonishing number of "wanker of the day" awards and becoming part of the blogospheric conversation. But as your frequent updates to posts show, it is something of an embattled enterprise (which, on the web, is a perfectly fine thing to be). It is not considered the world's eminent blog or the web's agenda-setter. It does not possess the authority in the online demimonde that Time does in the print world. It does not control the discourse, and cannot so easily dismiss critics. Evidence of this, of course, comes in this very exchange. It's partially the medium which convinces you to respond to criticism of your posts (on the blog, you're not fighting a weekly limit of 800 words), but it's also the change in status. In the print magazine, it would be considered diminishing to respond to so many criticisms from the letters section or The American Prospect , but online, where the Time brand and the Swampland's status must still be protected and cemented, it's necessary. For writers like you and I, that's a good thing. It's better to engage with critics, encourage reader engagement, remain a bit scared. But then, I've never known anything else. For the Time staff, there's been a deterioration of authority throughout this move. The Joe Klein of Time magazine simply writes differently, more imperiously, more securely, than the Joe Klein of Swampland. That's in part a function of mediums -- the two just lend themselves to different styles. My op-eds and feature articles are different than my blog posts also. But the difference in styles comes because, online, you don't control the discourse, and anyone who peeks into your comment sections knows it. By losing your exclusivity, you sacrifice some of your authority. you are not the only author. And by entering a medium where so many other voices are often vocally hostile to your work within the space where your work is published, you have to answer. Now, it may indeed be that you don't notice this effect, and the agonies of simply writing overwhelm such ruminations. But that doesn't mean it isn't there. --Ezra Klein
