And in a Blink, He Was Gone

Dan Rubin, who has blogged for almost 2 years for the Philadelphia Inquirer via Blinq (which stood for a contraction of Blog and Inquirer), announced that he is giving up his online blog for a metro column in the paper, Forward, Into The Past. Rubin covered the blogosphere, looking for interesting tidbits about a variety of topics -- funny, irreverent and interesting. He was on my "A-List", so I'm going to miss him.

Sounds like he may be taking over John Grogan's column, Inky Pulls Big Toe Out Of The Blog Pond, since Grogan recently left to pursue fame & fortune on the best seller list, see The Reader's News Digest. I guess this is a good thing for Rubin, so I'm happy for his new "digs," but I wish there was a way he could continue Bling -- even if he was just part of a group of Inky writers sharing the Bling space.

Shaun Mullen of Kiko's House expressed the paucity of content that is found on the Philly.com site, in Media: Another Funeral in Philadelphia (which I sited before), aptly observing:

I seldom do more than glance at the papers’ websites and on some days don't even do that. Too little breaking news. Too little special content. Too much yesterday and too little tomorrow . . . .

Don't get me wrong. Snazzy websites, world-class bloggers and interactivity out the wazoo are not cure-alls for what ails Philadelphia's newspapers, let alone others.

But they are the only proven way to stanch the loss of old readers and (gasp!) even attract new ones, and that message still has not sunken in.

I wonder whether it ever will.

Who knows what's up with the Inquirer. Despite the promises, promises of the new owners, things have not improved since Brian Tierney ascended to take over the running of the paper. Despite saying they weren't going to make any major changes to the editorial pages, this week brings the voice of conservative radio talker Michael Smerconish, Meet the new face of the "liberal media" in Philly. It's not bad enough that the paper carries Charles Krauthammer?

I also thought that the Inquirer/Daily News was supposed to be revamping their online presence, but this move seems to be heading in reverse, The End of An Era. Maybe they needed to make room for more advertisements on the website, since the paper & the website seem to be all ads, all the time.

As Tom Durso of Shallow Center said in Blinq and You'll Miss It:

And here's a public plea to the Inquirer to continue his good work online. The Philadelphia blogging community is a rich and diverse collection of writers, and no one was pulling them all together quite like Rubin was. Seems to me it would make for good journalism and good business to have someone keep an eye on the men and women who are supplementing the paper's coverage of city politics, culture, news, and sports with outstanding (and volunteer) commentary and observations.

I blinked and he was gone. And the beat goes on.

Tags: Philadelphia, Philly, News & Media, Journalism