The improbable success of the elephant

[Keyword: onlinejournalism]. The BBC's continuing online dominance in the UK is making some wonder if the trickle-down theory that the Beeb espouses (we're bringing people online, and they'll soon drift on to commercial media sites as well, so stop complaining we're undermining the business of online news) is still tenable - see the Economist (subscription site, sorry) and Hypergene.

Seems to me, though, the big, big story is the BBC's success at getting people to contribute high quality content online and giving people open access to its creative archive. A public service ethos being truly translated for a new medium. As wired says, "America's entertainment industry is committing slow, spectacular suicide, while one of Europe's biggest broadcasters - the BBC - is rushing headlong to the future, embracing innovation rather than fighting it."