Some PerformInk:

The psychological grip these bloggers and their commenting minions hold on journalists can't be underestimated. If you merely read what was printed about Chicago theatre this year, you only got the text. If you read the blogs, you also got the vital, constantly shifting subtext, postings that drilled their way into journalists' psyches and leaked into their coverage. Meanwhile, various practitioners argued themselves blue in the face trying to make sense of it all.