Amidst all the hot air being expended on both sides of the “are-bloggers-journalists” debate, vlogs—video blogs—could sneak in under the radar offering a new kind of journalism that manages to elude the controversy.

Rocketboom is my new favorite daily pleasure. A daily three-minute video, Rocketboom includes all the elements of a blog, including comments (which pop up so you can review them while watching the video), archives, and hyperlinks. “Anchor” Amanda Congdon—a New York-based performer—handles most of the reporting, although a team of correspondents from across the US pitch in to report on local happenings, such as the Cinco de Mayo celebration in Los Angeles.

Congdon and her team—along with producer Andrew Baron—have been at this since October 2004, producing the video Monday through Friday, and they’re obviously having a good time. The videos feature more attitude than you would think could fit in three minutes. Most installments are presented from behind the archetypal anchor desk, some from a location.

Despite the unconventional approach Rocketboom takes to its reporting, it is, nonetheless, reporting. Mainstream TV news reporters most likely would turn their nose up at Rocketboom, but audiences could gravitate toward this kind of offbeat news coverage. In fact, one article about Rocketboom appearing in the Washington Post goes so far as to suggest that Rocketboom could represent the future of TV news.

Web purists decry the notion of vlogs of any kind, arguing that the linear nature of video runs counter to the non-linear character of the Web. The notion is absurd, of course, as broadband adds alternative characteristics to the Web, making it a delivery mechanism for all kinds of media. Non-linear Web pages will continue to thrive, but more and more content that doesn’t fit that mold will be accessible online. We might call this “The Delivery Web,” joining “The Reference Web” (traditional Web pages) and “The Collaborative Web” (blogs, etc.). Podcasting, for example, would fit in the “Delivery Web” category.

Hate linear online content like Rocketboom as they may, these purists will just have to put up with it. Rocketboom boasts about 25,000 daily downloads. (What blogger wouldn’t love to have those kinds of numbers?) Once other vlogger/reporters begin adding their reports to the vlogosphere (I didn’t really just call it that, did I?) you’ll be able to assemble your own daily 30-minute video newscast, leaving The CBS Evening News and its ilk to struggle to find an audience.

Most vlogs (and there aren’t all that many yet) are shot with webcams in home offices and bedrooms, just a talking head speaking what could just as easily have been written in a blog. The production values behind Rocketboom require more effort than most vloggers are likely to want to put into their efforts, but there are probably enough enthusiastic amateur producers out there to create a niche space for Rocketboom-like Web-based programming. If the efforts of Amanda and her crew are any indication of what that will mean, I can’t wait.