Online commentators are seizing the moment

Cable news came of age during the first Gulf War. Online commentary -- or blogging, as it is known -- may have found its moment in this second campaign against Saddam Hussein.

It is an unexpected turn of events.

Web logs -- hence the geekish contraction "blogs" -- began as cyberspatial diaries on which writers posted snippets of whatever came to mind or to their attention. Narcissism and tedious anarchy were the order of the day. Over time, the blogs began to take on many of the characteristics of privately printed 19th century pamphlets -- places where overlooked or simply eccentric preoccupations could be aired.

But as the form's potential to reach a global readership almost instantaneously became clearer, it has become a favored medium for political commentators and opinion journalists with a desire to make their case with more urgency and timeliness than print -- or even television -- will permit.

The run-up to this second Gulf War has been an exhilarating period for the latter class of bloggers. In fact, the uncertain character of these past few months has seemed tailor-made for a medium that puts a premium on opinion, debate and the digestion of provocative information from more sources than anyone with a day job has waking moments to handle.

As the opinion polls have consistently shown, many serious-minded people of goodwill have found themselves conflicted over the necessity -- and morality -- of military conflict with Iraq. An unusual void has opened in a country increasingly divided along ever hardening partisan lines. The bloggers have stepped into that breach.

"The difference between now and the first Gulf War is that the energy in opinion journalism is now online and in real time," said former New Republic editor Andrew Sullivan, who maintains one of the most engaged and literate blogs (www.andrewsullivan.com). "The weekly magazines, and even the op-ed pages, can't keep up with the pace of blogs. And because we're first, we can help frame and even in some cases lead the debate."

Marty Kaplan, associate dean of USC's Annenberg School for Communication and director of its Norman Lear Center, thinks the blogs have played a largely unappreciated and focused role in the months leading up to war.

"Cable television still reaches a relatively small audience," he said, "and the number of people who read blogs is even smaller. But, in both cases, it's an awfully influential audience, and the blogs in particular have helped set the tone for that influential group's response to what's been going on.