Where are all these influential blogs?

Happy New Year! This post has nothing to do with the new year though. I was just reading an article in the opinion page of the newspaper written by a newspaper reporter who is concerned about the threat of the blog revolution to journalism. His (or her) point was that the average blogger is an amateur who does not know what they are talking about, and yet have the ear of the world. I was a bit insulted that the writer mentioned that some bloggers are doctors and lawyers and other professionals who DO know what they are talking about, as though no one else does. Unless he means that doctors are blogging about medicine and lawyers are blogging about law. But if that is the case why didn't he mention computer repair guys blogging about computer issues?

But that is not my point. My point is, this is not the first I've heard of the blog revolution and how it is changing journalism. My question is... where are these influential blogs that are changing journalism? Where are the blogs that have the ear of the world? How do I find them, so they can influence me? Ever since starting a website hosted on blogger.com, I've explored blogs quite a bit, and all the ones I've found are pretty much the same. They drivel about whatever, have no particular purpose or direction, and have 0 comments on most posts and maybe 2 or 3 on a few good posts, usually authored by the same 2 or 3 people. Some blogs are very well written and have caught my attention enough to read them regularly, but even those have not really given me any particular true or false information. (I'm talking about strangers' blogs of course. I read friends' blogs because they're my friends. The posts are meaningful to me just because I know the author). I've run into a few blogs that get as much as 15 comments per post, but notice that these are frequent commenters themselves, and so others are returning the favor, or its comments from people they already know face-to-face. My website is no different. I happen to think its a pretty good one (otherwise I wouldn't have it) but I don't think I'm in danger of having the ear of the world anytime soon. My purpose is to communicate my latest happenings and thoughts with people I already know. It's a way of keeping in touch with people I keep not writing to or not calling. A small handful of new people I didn't know have happened along, which is terrific, but it's been the exception and it is not the main purpose.

So... could someone please tell me? Where are the blogs that are changing the world of journalism, for the better or for the worse? I mean, I can clearly see that blogs are changing the way people use their time, and perhaps the way some people make friends and interact with friends. But changing the opinions of the masses? I don't think my website is doing that to any revolutionary extent. Is yours?

Can anyone fill me in? What am I missing?