This Beam is Not Balanced

On the way back from a European vacation -- loved that movie -- with the Baroness, I was reading the International Herald Tribune when I came across a column from The Boston Globe's Alex Beam. I know nothing about Beam, but the column caught my eye because it was about Twitter, the social networking site on which a friend can send you updates on how the haircut is going. Basically it's a site to let people know what's up.

I doubt Twitter has much staying power, but I'm certainly no final authority on the subject. Let the Twitter folks do what they want. Beam took a decidedly less moderate stance, blasting the site and those who use it, including Barack Obama and the State of Rhode Island. Why does old media have to seem so old all the time? Clearly, Beam decided it would be amusing to write a column in short bursts like the copy used on Twitter, but what is the columnist's point? I have no idea. I may not be the smartest guy in the room, but if I can't figure out the point of the column, Beam is in trouble. Being a columnist at a major metro daily used to carry such weight, but it just doesn't anymore -- except maybe at The New York Times. There's too much great content out there in so many places that people like Beam have become less relevant and let's be honest, it shows in the work.