Out of humble beginnings, pajama-clad included …

Are we witnessing the further evolution of the creature known today as “Media?”

The underdogs of our time, journalistically speaking, are bloggers. And the online unraveling of Rathergate was their first unmitigated triumph.

One of the bloggers who led the charge against Rather is Charles Johnson, proprietor of the curiously named Little Green Footballs. Shortly after this triumph, Johnson joined forces with another popular blogger, Roger L. Simon, to form (thumbing their noses at Klein and all other doubters) Pajamas Media.

Aside from blogging, Simon is a screenwriter and novelist, Johnson a session musician and computer-software entrepreneur. The business partners have spent the past several months lining up bloggers and investors to participate in their new venture.

“Our intention is to create an aggregation of good blogs, quality-wise, to provide an alternative to the mainstream media,” Simon tells NRO.

In the beginning, however, they will be somewhat dependent on that same mainstream media. The site will have links to the top news headlines of the day, as reported by the AP and other establishment news sources.

Here’s the difference: alongside each news headline, Pajamas Media will link related blog posts that their editors consider to be the most interesting or insightful out there. And as the story evolves, so will the blog links. Pajamas Media’s coverage and commentary will be worldwide and around-the-clock. They already have blogger editors lined up in Europe and Australia.

Greater scope, speed, and adaptability - a recipe for success in the evolutionary cycle.

In some instances, bloggers have beaten the networks and papers to the punch, providing better and timelier news than the big guns can. They point to members of the military who blog from the frontlines in Iraq, while highly-paid, pampered reporters hunker down in Baghdad’s Green Zone. More recently, some of the most incisive reporting during the Katrina disaster came from heretofore-unknown bloggers living in and around New Orleans and other hotspots.

Bloggers don’t work nine-to-five; they post around-the-clock. They don’t file one story a day; they might update dozens of times throughout a 24-hour period. And they are everywhere. The New York Times has 53 bureaus worldwide (16 of them in the New York area). Pajamas Media plans to easily top that number, and at a fraction of the cost.

From a business model perspective, the concept sure seems to have legs.

Pajamas Media is already edging away from their humble origins a little bit. They plan to change their name to something more respectable. What is it? They’re not telling. They plan a kick-off party in New York City on November 16, when they will reveal their new company name, as well as other details of the venture.

Isn’t this all a little pie-in-the-sky, however? Who could imagine supplanting the venerable Associated Press wire service, for instance?

Sounds like a classic David and Goliath match-up.

Well, we’ll soon see who’s the fittest in this match-up …

Which would you put your money on?