The Christian Science Monitor has a rather typical article on blogging and quotes some of the usual suspects.:^)

By one estimate, there are 2 million of them posted on the Internet around the world talking about everything from knitting patterns to the war in Iraq. But as blogs - or personal weblogs - move into the limelight, they’re also coming under closer scrutiny. And the conclusions are in some ways sobering.
Except for a tiny number of blogs that have gained prominence, all this techno-chattiness remains just that: an immature form of communication that has yet to gain traction with the general public, experts say. Most are moldering in cyberspace, updated only sporadically or abandoned completely. But out of this fervid experimentation are coming some new forms of communication that are already influencing public discourse.

The ‘influence’ is trickling into academics, US politics, some US business and a bit in journalism gathering.

One of the things I’ve been chewing on is the journalism-weblog competition concept. It’s been a racous debate on big name US tech/social networking blogs for quite some time now. I really don’t think it has much (if anything) to do with 99.99% of blogs.
But we are so used to thinking media influences us, the idea of influencing media is elusive and new to the average person.
The American media is woefully inadequate in covering international news. I think blogs can fill that gap, as those in other countries with access to technology can post.
It isn’t unlike ham radio. It filled a great gap for the BBC and other international media over the years. Aid and mission stations could sent out news.
But blogging won’t replace media, nor do I see it as in competition to. It’s complimentary, it augments.