A giant of Idol Nation moves on
The dean of "American Idol" journalism, Ken Barnes, announced yesterday that he is leaving USA Today and its blog Idol Chatter. Hard as it may be to imagine, when "American Idol" debuted it was virtually ignored by the media, mainstream or otherwise. Ken was one of the first to look seriously at the show and to cover it. His blog has been one of the prime watering holes for Idol Nation, his weekly comprehensive analysis of Idol album sales invaluable.
He wrote yesterday on the blog:
Idol Chatter will continue without me — it won't turn into Idol Shattered. The plans aren't set in stone yet, but I do know that my colleague and friend Brian Mansfield will be taking over the live blogging, and he'll be great at it. Do check him out.
I also hope to be writing about Idol somewhere online in the near future, and I would hope that you'll keep an eye out for me (gotta get that Idol sales info somewhere, right?).
Here's hoping we see Ken back online very soon, and a tip of the hat for blazing a trail for us all.
— Richard Rushfield
