Props to my dad for forwarding me a link to a Colin McEnroe column that led me to this Nieman Journalism Lab article inspired by John Hodgeman’s attempts to sell a book by B-movie actor Bruce Campbell (did you follow all that?)…

Newspapers are by definition devoted to the mass audience. In their current form, they can’t exploit the Bruce Campbell [passionate audience] niche – they’re ABC sitcom [mass audience] all the way. They’re okay at building a big audience, but horrible at earning devotion.

Ever read a blog that has a terrific community around it, where the comments are always smart, the readers are obviously engaged, and it looks like the best the Internet can be? Compare that [to] the mix of clowns and boors you see haunting the comments sections of most newspaper websites.

Could the online “devoted audience” someday become the Holy Grail of internet sustainability?  If advertisers ever wake up to the posssibilities, I’d say “yes!”