Rogers Cadenhead writes about the Long Bet Dave Winer and Martin Nisenholtz (of the New York Times) made back in 2002: “In a Google search of five keywords or phrases representing the top five news stories of 2007, weblogs will rank higher than the New York Times’ Web site.” Cadenhead looks at the ranking for Times articles and blogs on the top five stories, as ranked by the Associated Press, and finds that in three out of five the blog ranked higher.

But the real winner: Wikipedia. It ranks higher than the Times on four out of five. Cadenhead sums it up this way:

“Winer predicted a news environment “changed so thoroughly that informed people will look to amateurs they trust for the information they want.” Nisenholtz expected the professional media to remain the authoritative source for “unbiased, accurate, and coherent” information.

Instead, our most trusted source on the biggest news stories of 2007 is a horde of nameless, faceless amateurs who are not required to prove expertise in the subjects they cover.”

That’s a cheap shot. (maybe it was meant to be humorous, but it sure comes off as a cheap shot).

Here’s a commenter’s take:

“Wiki’s are closer to on-line libraries while blogs and media portals are like Daily newspapers… the news rolls off the front page and into oblivion. So, unless there’s been an amzingly popluar news event with a limit number of sources then the wiki will quickly rise to the top of a search since the Wiki has more permanence and is discovered and referenced more often than a blog or new portal.”

That’s much better.

I recently wrote about the failure of some high profile wiki projects because they missed a critical success factor: building a community with a common purpose. Now, a new project is underway that appears to be getting it right, and in a fascinating way. Assignment Zero is a [Read more]