Newspapers around the world are putting more content online and a big proportion of them are publishing blogs, some of which are getting quite a bit of airtime. Contrast this to our esteemed West Australian, which today published an opinion article by Michele Phillips headlined “Net diarists really should blogger off” with the out-there claim that “blogging is reality culture gone beserk”.

The piece is actually about the mildly popular To Do List blog, which the headline writer seems to have missed. But the columnist leaves no doubt that she reckons the vast majority of blogs are “so inane your time would’ve been better spent watching paint dry”.

Thing is, it’s not just one columnist – the West has repeatedly shown that it doesn’t grok this whole ‘Internet’ thang (witness its recently redesigned but still buggy Web site). How long, I wonder, will it survive with its head buried in the sand when the news media landscape is changing so rapidly?

In other news: British regulators may be on to something by suggesting that the power-hungry ‘standby’ mode of most consumer electronics be banned, a survey suggests the happiest countries aren’t the most environmentally damaging ones, and Kashmiri separatists have denied involvement in yesterday’s Mumbai blasts (if not them, then who?). Also, the new Ramos-Horta government in Timor-Leste is showing signs that it might bring lasting peace through real reform … while it remains to be seen whether that actually happens, the early signs are definitely positive.