In an intriguing development, Le Monde has begun to offer its readers weblog hosting in partnership with Typepad.
As Loïc Le Meur (of Typepad's parent company, SixApart) points out, Le Monde's top 10 blogs features a mix of the blogs its own journalists and those of its readers. At number one is Langue Sauce Piquante, written by the newspaper's language correction team.
The only other similar instances that come to mind of a large media organisation hosting weblogs are Salon Blogs, powered by RadioUserland, and the Herald-Sun of North Carolina in the US offering blogs to local political candidates.
It's not a trend yet, by any means, but certainly a development to watch: will would-be bloggers want to ally themselves to a particular media organisation, and all the associations - good or bad - that brings? Let me know if you spot more examples.