Last night I caught the very end of NPR's FreshAir which was an interview with Bill Moyers. In response to a question about what sort of tv/print/web media he reads/listens to he said blogs 'is the closest we have come to, in a long time, to the history of the American media in the beginning' and then talks about the parallels of blogs and the early American press of the 1700s.
Skip ahead to about 36 minutes into the show and hear for yourself.