The new gumshoes

Yesterday's news (which I'm just getting to today) highlights how bloggers are making the transition from news commentary to actual reporting:

Stanford blogger Clinton Taylor spent some time on the phone, and on Google, and quickly cracked that chilling airline drama from last month.

Myrick , a blogger in Singapore, wrapped some documents in his socks to test a theory about former Clinton advisor Sandy Berger. Berger is under fire for sneaking confidential documents out of the National Archives. Can socks be used in this way? Quoth Myrick:

"With the Drezner-Farrell study my sock started to slip immediately. It had slid about three-inches after about 40 steps on a flat surface. I doubt I could have walked any considerable distance without a complete loss of the report... I didn't test how far I could have walked, however, as I got a paper cut on my ankle."

This kind of reporting doesn't require vast resources or cultivated insider connections. It's fun to read, yet provides obviously relevant angles to these stories. So why didn't it come from Big Journalism?

Maybe they're all busy gearing up for the DNC.