Marc Ambinder takes off his blogging pajamas. He's going to be working for National Journal, a sister publication of The Atlantic:
Blogging is an ego-intensive process. Even in straight news stories, the format always requires you to put yourself into narrative. You are expected to not only have a point a view and reveal it, but be confident that it is the correct point of view. There is nothing wrong with this. As much as a writer can fabricate a detachment, or a "view from nowhere," as Jay Rosen has put it, the writer can also also fabricate a view from somewhere. You can't really be a reporter without it. I don't care whether people know how I feel about particular political issues; it's no secret where I stand on gay marriage, or on the science of climate change, and I wouldn't have it any other way. What I hope I will find refreshing about the change of formats is that I will no longer be compelled to turn every piece of prose into a personal, conclusive argument, to try and fit it into a coherent framework that belongs to a web-based personality called "Marc Ambinder" that people read because it's "Marc Ambinder," rather than because it's good or interesting.
I will miss Ambers' personal voice. But I do see the point he is making here. There is a great joy in writing constantly in your own voice, taking your own stand, making your own points - online, in real time, with nowhere to hide. But there is also great solipsism if you are not careful, great strain - who doesn't want a few days of not having an opinion on something? - and the psychic corrosion of constant personal exposure.
Marc will now return to reporting the old-fashioned way. And the Dish will follow his work wherever he goes.