Uber-blog Raises a Celebrity Voice

For some it is the end of the blog. For others, it is proof that blogging has earned its place in the media. Blogs, or online weblogs, in which opinions and reports are posted on the internet for everyone to read, are to get a dose of celebrity.

Arianna Huffington, commentator, one-time Republican and candidate for governor of California, has recruited a bevy of close friends to create an über-blog that will offer a round-the-clock commentary on our life and times.

Norman Mailer, David Mamet, Warren Beatty, Diane Keaton, Walter Cronkite, Gwyneth Paltrow, Harold Evans and Tina Brown are just a few of the 250-plus names recruited.

While blogs were born to give a voice to the disenfranchised, www.huffingtonpost.com is somewhat different.

Jay Rosen, who runs a blog called www.pressthink.org, told the New York Times: "These aren't exactly people who lack voice or visibility in our culture. Gwyneth Paltrow has no incentive to speak candidly and alienate future ticket buyers."

The blog will be part of a site along the lines of other online magazines such as Salon.com, and will feature breaking news and a media commentary called Eat the Press.

But Ms Huffington says the blog will not pull punches. The site, she wrote, "won't be leftwing or rightwing; indeed, it will punch holes in that very stale way of looking at the world ... You're actually already doing the hardest work of a blogger: having interesting opinions and fresh takes on the hot stories of the day. We'll just provide a megaphone."

The writer Nora Ephron said she was attracted by the blog's informality and the chance to redress "media bias".

"The idea that one might occasionally be able to have a small thought and a place to send it, without having to write a whole essay, seems like a very good idea," she said.

Although none of the contributors will be paid, some of the contents will be syndicated to more traditional media. And in a triumph for old media over new, such content will be edited and fact-checked.