Today, David Carr explains why writing for a blog is not the perfect job for every journalist. His theory is that bloggers have to listen to people — and journalists have sort of a tough time doing that. Carr insinuates that print journalists prefer to send their opinions and theories out into the world on printed paper, with little to response from the general public — whereas bloggers welcome responses from readers. (We will listen to our readers bitch, but we prefer to listen to gossip.)

Carr's latest blog expose was written in light of New Republic editor Lee Siegel's behavior on the site's blog. After taking on an anonymous commenter identity, he argued back with readers who did not agree with him, calling himself "brilliant" and "brave." (Obviously, he didn't get many warm fuzzies as a child.) But Siegel, looking back, regrets his decision to take on a faux identity and compliment the shit out of himself with berating his readers.

“People of course have a right to question a critic’s judgment, but there’s a difference between doing that and merely insulting someone you disagree with,” he said in a phone call. “So I wildly created an over-the-top persona and adopted the tone of my attackers, when I should have just gone to the gym instead.”

Ah, yes. The gym. New Republic EIC Franklin Foer just put in a request to admin to get Crunch memberships for everyone on staff.

A Comeback Overshadowed by a Blog [David Carr, New York Times]