This morning I heard this story on NPR about how the ease of self-publishing has impacted the role of the traditional media critic. It contained this quote from former Village Voice critic Robert Christgau:

“Has the Internet made the rationalization of critical opinion easier? Not in my opinion. I don’t think so. Because there’s simply too much for anybody to digest. You need gatekeepers,” Christgau says.

I completely agree. But instead of defining this in terms of media I’ve put my RSS reader in the place of gatekeeper. I define what gets in, using Newsgator as a proxy. It allows me to give all voices an equal starting point and then I can assign weight and influence as I see fit.