Jeff Jarvis

Howard Kurtz wrote in WaPo He has denounced shoddy journalism, defended whipped-cream-covered strippers on television, discussed the pope on MSNBC, called in to Howard Stern, exchanged erudite letters with the editor of the New York Times, and championed the idea that any citizen can be "a Wolf Blitzer in sheep's clothing." In the process, he says, he has "rebranded" himself as Blog Boy. Jeff Jarvis, a former critic for People and TV Guide and a founding editor of Entertainment Weekly, has moved from writing for millions to blogging for thousands, slinging opinions on subjects ranging from the war on terror to car stereos. "God knows how many bits and bytes I've wasted on my blathering," he says.

Jarvis, 50, churns out all manner of commentary on his Web site BuzzMachine.com, operated with help from his 13-year-old son Jake, who has his own blog. MSNBC executives like his punditry so much that they periodically use shaky Webcam video of him from the den of his New Jersey home. "I'm broadcasting to the world with a $99 camera," he says. Last week, the white-bearded Jarvis quit his job as online czar for Advance Publications. He will be working for the New York Times Co. as editor of the services guide About.com, whose $410 million acquisition Jarvis had questioned. (He says he'll still critique the paper's journalism but not its business decisions.) Jarvis will also be working with a news start-up operation (details still secret) and consulting for City University of New York's new journalism grad school. Not everyone is a Jarvis fan. He got into a spat with a Daily Kos contributor who called him a conservative. (Jarvis, a Democrat, wrote: "If I'd passed your test, would I have gotten a Liberal License? A Liberal T-Shirt, perhaps? A Liberal Membership Card?") He called a professor who challenged the motives of two Iraqi bloggers "pond scum."

Jeff Jarvis blogged Not sure why, but Howard Kurtz devotes part of his Washington Post column today to this very blog. I'm flattered and too egotistical to be too embarrassed. (Just to clarify one thing about About, not that anyone should care: I'll be working as a consultant, part-time, and not on staff and that's how I can continue to blog. And, yes, I tweaked the deal at first but obviously signed onto the vision of it as a platform for distributed media, because that's why I'm there and, having met the staff, I'm happy as a clam in cocktail sauce.) And here's my son's blog. : OH, AND... If anybody's in D.C. and can save a copy of the Style section, I'd be grateful to see it in print. As I said: I'm an egotist and I may be blogboy now but I'm not so jaded I don't like seeing my name in print.

Glad you are now a happy blogger, at least happier than Elaine Liner