A mob fighting a good cause is still a mob. To fight back, you need to remember that although the internet age is hugely expanding the number of complaints, the old rules still apply. Whether you are the owner of a tiny blog or the editor of a national newspaper, if someone points out an incorrect fact, you correct it; if someone challenges an argument, you argue back; and if someone says that you must think what they think, you ignore them.

Source: here

The basic idea is that audiences know more than journalists, so it makes sense for journalists to use them. Where journalists, media groups etc used to provide quality editorial, blogs now help do that to a certain extent. This diagram puts their new role neatly:

Call me a dyed in the wool reactionary if you want, I still think the change is a two-way process. The world of journalism may indeed have to shape up to take into account the dynamism of blogs, but I think it’s a rash blogger who thinks there’s nothing to learn from a journalism 1.01