Hilaire Belloc - forefather of the modern blog?

Verlyn Klinkenborg has made a very interesting argument that Hilaire Belloc was the forefather of the modern blogsphere. With his many theories about "the Free Press" that would in time come to challenge the monopoly of the mainstream media, Belloc foretold the current revolution that is taking place within modern journalism almost a century before it happened.

Just what exactly is this "Free Press" that Belloc described? Oh, you know, nothing more than a "horde of small, highly opinionated, sometimes propagandistic papers" that pop out all sorts of "cranky" but unconventional viewpoints on all sorts of topics. Although imperfect, they certainly play their role in making the truth known to the wider world.

Although Belloc was largely speaking about the printing press, nevertheless his basic arguments can easily be applied to the current blogsphere. As Klinkenborg concludes, Hilaire Belloc was pretty much a "blogger of his own time."


Note:The Project Gutenberg actually hosts Belloc's book The Free Press, for those interested in reading it.