Disrupting A Monopoly: The Rise of Independent Publishers

Chapter One

The sun begins to rise above the city. Amidst the morning clouds and the precipitous dew settled on dandelion leaves growing outside the local coffee shop, one could open the shaky glass door and find the quaint, familiar sitting area filled with people gently paging through newspapers, briefly pausing to sip their morning caffeinated drink of choice. This is the Montreal of yesteryear.

Curtains Open. Spotlight Stage Right. Here Comes The Blog.

“The early 2000s were a period of growth for blogs. In 1999, according to a list compiled by Jesse James Garrett, there were 23 blogs on the Internet. This comes from the [term 'weblog' that was just then shortened to 'blog' by programmer Peter Merholz, and five years later, is declared by Merriam-Webster as their word of the year]” Source.

Paper Monarchs Attempt To Fend Off The Blogbarians

To understand this new power struggle between blogs and traditional media organizations, let's rewind even further back in history - let's enter what could be considered the “Dark Ages”.

Much like feudal Europe of the past, ruled by a select few monolithic monarchs, news and lifestyle was exclusively reserved for the lords of “the papers”. This dominion endured for much of publication history. The Newspaper was king and ran local industry as its loyal fiefdom. With a populace that depended solely on the information provided to them by print journalism to help orient and navigate daily life, the monopoly was readily accepted, enforced, protected, and supported. That is, until the appearance of the “blogbarians” who razed these dominions to the ground. Though, like the Greek Acropolis and ruins of European castles today, what remains fights steadily to stand the tests of time: the papers continue to be revisited by steadfast believers and modern day traditionalists.

From Staple To Artifact

The traditional news industry valiantly fought to hold the barricades for as long as they could - to no avail. The blogbarians invaded swiftly and mercilessly. Two of the earliest blogs to make waves in 2000 were LiveJournal and Blogger (source), which helped pave the way for an explosion of independent bloggers determined to relay current affairs, personal thoughts, critiques, and suggestions to their local audiences. Now unbound, free to broadcast their news, opinions, and critiques to local and global audiences - thanks to the limitless World Wide Web - blogging supported individual influence on a massive scale like never before, facilitating its global proliferation.

Blogs became the new heralds, growing from a small body of town criers to now corporately established, independent publishers. We now fast-forward to 2012, and the arrival of MTL Blog.

In collaboration with Matthew Orsini, Synden Hope-Johnston 

photo via style-me-hip