HUGH HEWITT WRITES on the genius of James Lileks, and why he should be in every newspaper in America. And he’s got proof:

You can test our assertion by a visit to technorati.com, which allows you to check the blogosphere’s connectivity ratings. Lileks is widely linked to and commented upon, and his fans stretch across the vast political spectrum of the Internet’s chattering class. This is a sure sign of broad appeal because the weak are never recognized by the blogosphere and the old and the lazy are mercilessly culled from the herd. Lileks is prospering on the web because Lileks is good. . . .

I write about his relative obscurity because it illustrates a point that needs to be made again and again: Newspapers and TV talking heads are falling behind their audiences because they refuse to read the map that is in front of their noses. They want to regain their monopoly on commentary, and seem to believe that by ignoring the repeated tidal waves that hit them, they can will themselves back to relevance.

Yep. Maybe they should add The Bleat to the New York Times website. Just a thought.

UPDATE: For those who haven’t mastered Technorati, here’s the link to the Technorati page that collects pages linking to Lileks.