Radley Balko is one of my “must-reads” every morning as I skim the blogosphere for interesting stuff.  He sometimes reads SJ when he’s got nothing better to do and there’s no place left on his puppy to scratch.  Even though he’s a libertarian, we share many of the same concerns and he’s got a knack for finding strange and curious conduct by police that usually ends with somebody getting nailed by a SWAT team by mistake.  That’s the sort of news that captures my interest.

And now he’s gone mainstream.  The news was broken by a twit from Michael Moynihan, Reason’s senior editor,

Congrats (and sadness because he’s leaving Reason) to the great @radleybalko

Radley confirmed it, he’s out of there.

In May, I’ll be leaving Reason to work as a crime reporter for the Huffington Post. As you may know, AOL bought Huffington Post several months ago, and they’re hiring a ton of great people to build out a serious journalism program. I’ll be working with some really talented folks, like (former Agitator guest blogger) Ryan Grim, and Peter Goodman and Tim O’Brien, who came over from the New York Times. I’ll be covering the same beat I do now, only with a much bigger platform, and with the resources to delve into bigger, more in-depth projects.

For some, this means that Balko can finally buy the beers, now that he’s on the payroll of such a big time provider as HuffPo.  For others, the pain of having to go to HuffPo to read Balko is akin to sticking a needle in one’s eye. 

For me, this will be a fascinating experiment in the maturity of the interwebz.  Radley assured me that he has complete editorial freedom in his new position, that the corporate overlords won’t tell him whose ox to gore.  I believe, both because I believe him and I believe it would be utterly foolish to steal him from Reason and then try to turn him into Pollyanna.  I can’t imagine the follicularly challenged Balko would look good in a dress anyway.

But how will his message go over?  At HuffPo, he will be writing for a much larger audience than Reason.  Those who read Reason tend to either love or hate his views, but mostly love.  Aside from Patterico and his Pontifications, most of Radley’s readers support his concerns. There won’t be any choir at HuffPo.

This is a bold move.  No longer will Radley be surrounded mostly by those of similar mind.  Will he end up as troll bait in the pseudo-mainstream (for the internet, at least) news and commentary website? 

My experience with HuffPo writers, noting that these were before the buyout, meaning that they were the ones who wrote for free in the desperate hope of validation, flashing neon “Look at me! Look at Meeeee!!!” sign over their work, left me decidedly unimpressed.  Neither much by way of deep thought, nor high expectations.  They didn’t mind leaving the readers stupider for having been there, or the commentariat nasty.  Angry, ignorant comments were better than none, and at least validated their existence if nothing else.

This isn’t the world that Radley knows.  I would expect him to have higher expectations, to expect his readers to have at least a reasonably open mind and the capacity to think beyond their knee-jerk politics.  He will be faced with the daunting task of writing for a broader audience.  As I responded when he told me, the problem with that is that he’s writing for a broader audience.  Some say the masses are asses.  We’ll find out.

This new gig will give Radley a chance to do far more investigation than before, which (for those of you who don’t realize it) is a gift. Having the time and resources to do some heavy lifting in the investigative arena is a true luxury, one that few bloggers enjoy. 

Some may fear that Balko will sell out, curry favor with HuffPo readers to become more popular, maybe get a gig on Dancing with the Stars or a Fox News Channel talk show.  I refuse to believe this, but just in case, I have a plan to hold him to his promise to stay the course.



It’s always helpful to know a guy’s weak spot.

Congratulations to Radley Balko.  Whether the mainstream internet is ready for him remains to be seen, but the issues and commentary he brings to the great unwashed at HuffPo cannot help but illuminate, even if they read him kicking and screaming.