The most promising finding of Brodeur's new survey on journalists and blogs is that blogs are helping journalists frame their stories, identify angles and gain insight into any debate.
The discordant tone is that they aren't used much to validate information and aren't viewed as contributors to high quality --- some of this may be defensiveness by old media to new media, but I suspect much of this is what you get when everyone suddenly owns a printing press. It takes time to shake out the best from the worst and we're still doing some shaking.
The findings ring true in the newsrooms I know. Journalists are excited about blogging because they can serve and interact differently. The standard of journalism isn't necessarily at risk, but the nature of the writing is more intimate and sociable.
Among the challenges for journalists: Participating more often and doing so without losing a grip on the public service nature of the work --- in other words, keeping some maturity and rigor in the blog when it seems others are just letting fly. To the degree they can do this, journalists will find new audiences and further satisfy existing ones.