I think that aggregation can work as narrative, but it needs to be curated. A team editing and highlighting parts of the flow - that knew their way around that amount of european blogs  - could really tell a story - especially with linguistic support.

The feeds could be there and available - but with a heavily curated front end -  and the possibility offered to others to create customised front ends for it.

I always think 'engine' when I see routine formatting errors - because of automation - in search results. This feels like an engine.

OTOH We should support a diversity of efforts to bring EU opinions together. None of us really knows which seed can or will grow into the most effective channel.

Front ends can always be added in the future. First, metrics are needed. Aggregation is one form of fact gathering. It is important for the simple reason that, like the first steam engine, it does a lot of heavy, boring lifting.

The EU itself IS fractured, if you want to use that word. I'd prefer 'culturally biodiverse' ;-)

I am beginning to see the EU as a unique structure in the history of politics and government.

You can't be me, I'm taken

It doesn't necessarily need to lead, like dkos, it can fact-check the MSM. During the election, I noticed that after awhile, whatever nutty claim came out of republican mouths here, they were quickly debunked by the blogs, and pundits stopped giving the nutjobs credence. This took a few months of aggressive work by bloggers.

Fact-checking is a very, very useful tool to have in your kit, and I think the MSM cares enough about its own credibility to pay heed.

"It Can't Be Just About Us"
--Frank Schnittger, ETian Extraordinaire