Forbes Attacks Blogs

It appears that Chicken Little is writing for Forbes. In a rather hysterical (in both senses of the word) piece, Attack of the Blogs (requires free registration), writer Daniel Lyons paints an improbable picture: tiny corporate Davids (like Procter & Gamble, Microsoft, and Ford) versus the evil Blogliath.

Blogs started a few years ago as a simple way for people to keep online diaries. Suddenly they are the ultimate vehicle for brand-bashing, personal attacks, political extremism and smear campaigns. It's not easy to fight back: Often a bashing victim can't even figure out who his attacker is.

Oh my God! That's awful! Just who are these powerless victims savaged by evil bloggers?

No target is too mighty, or too obscure, for this new and virulent strain of oratory. Microsoft has been hammered by bloggers; so have CBS, CNN and ABC News...

Indeed, this blog has, at one time or another, singled out CBS, CNN, and ABC for harsh, well-deserved criticism. And NBC, too. As long as there are people in the MSM like Dan Rather, Eason Jordan, Mark Halperin, and Brian Williams, this blog will continue to do so. Deal with it, Lyons.

Lyons chief victim is a man named Gregory Halpern who, as Lyons tells it, was targeted by a single person calling himself "Nick Tracy" who used a blog to destroy the value of Halpern's company. Trouble is, the blog was only one avenue of attack used by "Nick Tracy". He also put out press releases (should we ban public relations firms?), and "...sent letters about Halpern to Nestlé, the American Stock Exchange, the Food & Drug Administration, the Federal Trade Commission and the Brookhaven National Laboratory (involved in Circle's anthrax deal)." Should we ban the Post Office?

Mr. Lyons, blogs don't slander people, people slander people.

Via The Jawa Report and Micro Persuasion.