Eric Schmidt Thinks Blogging Is Low Quality Filler

Do you blog? If you do, Google CEO Eric Schmidt probably doesn’t think much of your work.

In comments to the American Society of News Editors, Schmidt unloaded on bloggers covering the news, saying that newspapers are still the crucial voice:

There is an art to what you do. And if you’re ever confused as to the value of newspaper editors, look at the blog world. That’s all you need to see.

That coming from the CEO of Blogger, one of the most popular destinations media and social websites in the world.  According to Compete, Blogger is the 22nd largest internet property in the United States.

Now the newspaper industry hates bloggers, but they may actually hate Google more, so perhaps Schmidt was just playing to the crowd to get some brownie points. Either way, his comments do have a certain acerbity to them.

Are all blogs great? Of course not. But blogs do fill important niches in the world, especially I think in the world of technology, that newspapers just cannot cover. Blogs are faster, more independant, and varied. Sure, the average blogger doesn’t have a full editing staff, but that does not denigrate the possible quality of their content.

Off the cuff comment or not, Schmidt owns a huge blogging property, which Google paid good money for. At least someone at Google thinks that blogging is  good pursuit.