The thing is that as bloggers fine tune their abilities to provide coherent and reasonable points of discussions a sense of trust develops between the reader and the bloggers so at some point the reader will first look to the blogger as their starting point.

As far as the tools point journalists, columnists or any other such person that writes for mass consumption has for as long as there has been print done their very best to get to know their tools of their craft. For journalists it could be the inside source or it could even be the reference library or the hall of public records. Those are tools just as for the blogger things like Google, FriendFeed, Twitter or even their fellow bloggers are all in a sense tools that we need to use to make what we provide our readers with better content.

AS far as the word filter is concerned it doesn't matter – it is all semantics. You can use any word you want as long as the end product is that you provide your readers with clear and honest interpretations of things you find important. For me filter works .. for you maybe beacon works .. it really doesn't matter in the end does it as long as our readers are happy and have learned something or at least started on a road to learning something they feel is important.

Supply and demand. It can be a bitch sometimes, but I think with the right audience, it can take us all to an entirely different level. :)

And I suppose I'll just have to wait 'til our audience picks up for the focus to turn off of us. :) But I do see what you mean, because there is a desire (if not an obligation) to give readers what they want. Supply and demand!