It’s a well-documented trend that bloggers are becoming increasingly powerful.These Web-warriors, whose personal thoughts and opinions are posted online and viewed by increasing numbers of political junkies, are considered by many media critics to be the new wave of journalism. Some bloggers, like the Atlantic’s Andrew Sullivan, are well-established and respected journalists who have support and write under the names of prestigious papers or enterprises. Some write for increasingly visible and influential Internet-based organizations, including Politico.com.Some are just average Joes with opinions, computers and the fortune of an audience.But whatever the type of blogger, it’s becoming virtually impossible to deny their influence is increasing.A recent extreme example is the city of Salisbury, Maryland. In her final “state-of-the city” speech, Salisbury mayor Barrie Parsons Tilghman lamented what she perceived to be the negative effects that bloggers have on her city’s political climate.Tilghman apparently believed a group of “suspicious, mean-spirited people focused on the negative” has been unduly influencing the way the city is being run, according to the Maryland Daily Record.  Tilghman said citizens are afraid to run for public office because “it’s not worth chancing the scorn of the bloggers.”Whether or not Tilghman’s lament is justified is largely irrelevant.Bloggers are becoming more and more powerful, and sooner or later the question must be asked: Are blogs beneficial to the political discourse?The answer is, as it usually is, complicated – yes, but with a great deal of qualification.First, as previously stated,   bloggers can come from any and every part of the spectrum of respectability and reputation. Although it’s true you don’t need press credentials to make astute analysis of the news, they serve as an identity marker for credible sources.There’s a reason only select writers have their names attached to prestigious organizations – they’re good at what they do. Sullivan writes for the Atlantic because he is a practiced, professional columnist, with a finely-honed sense and skill for rhetoric and argument.Furthermore, writers associated with major organizations are generally dedicated entirely to observing and analyzing the news and the political atmosphere – consequently, they are better informed and better able to provide context than a blogger who writes in his or her spare time.Second, it is essential that blogs not be your sole source of information intake.  Just as your body needs a balanced diet to function properly, a politically conscious diet can corroborate the facts and stories a blog refers to with other, more directly journalistic media.  Blogs, by their very nature, provide a biased recounting of events, so make sure your facts are straight before digesting the information contained in them.Third, it’s vital that a blogger’s popularity – the number of hits per page – not function as a measurement of his or her worth as a writer or an analyst.  A writer’s popularity is by no means directly proportional to his skill – it’s more likely because of an ability to write what a certain group of people wants to hear, which is definitely not conducive to a reasoned, logical analysis.Finally, it’s important to keep a blogger’s importance in perspective. In the final analysis, a blogger is at best a well-informed and eloquent person giving his opinion – his word is not law, nor should his criticism of a public figure be accepted without debate.If you follow all these rules, you can make the most of a future full of bloggers.And your city won’t be destroyed, because you’ll know how to survive them.Matthew Albright is a 20-year-old political science sophomore from Baton Rouge.–Contact Matthew Albright at [email protected]