The crumbling of The Telegraph continues. Dan Hannan reports this morning that The Telegraph is now incorporating its blogs into the online comment section in much the same way that Daily Mail online did before effectively shutting Right Minds.  Hannan writes:

This is it. The last post. After nearly eight years, Telegraph blogs is coming to an end. It comes as quite a shock to realise that mine is the only column to have been present from the beginning to the end.

How things have changed in those eight years. Back in 2007, blogs were new and unproved. Established columnists disdained them, and assured their readers that they would never take off. Some excitable bloggers spoke of displacing the old media.

Neither thing happened. Instead, blogs became part of the media scene, often attached to an established newspaper title. Simply by existing, they changed the terms of trade. No longer could the old media asphyxiate a story by choosing not to report it.

The difference between an online title and that newspaper title’s blogs has become indifferent to the readers. Though readers often enjoy writing that is fresher and not part of the metropolitan establishment’s groupthink, decided by consensus in editorial meetings –  something that worries Guido as we expand our stable of writers (yes we’re hiring). Hannan is off to Iain Martin’s CapX…