We're definitely still on the way. I doubt I could quit my job right now, start a blog and charge people a la Andrew Sullivan and make anything resembling a decent living. I'd have to be broke for a good amount of time. Possibly even years. I have a sports blog on the side. I wrote for free there for a year and now I get paid a whopping $25 a month. I doubt I'll ever get to the point where income from there can match my current income. That's fine since it's a hobby, but I just don't see it supplanting my "real job." And the meritocracy part is iffy. Yes, now you can blog your way to the New York Times like Nate Silver, but you also used to be able to work as a news clerk without a college diploma and work your way up. I mean...Carl Bernstein dropped out of college. It's more meritocratic, but it's not as if it was this hermetically sealed world.
Feel free to share any of your blogging/reporting on Hubski. I know that some sites discourage people posting their own content, but we welcome it here. It's a privelage to be able to have discussions with the author/creator IMO. Good luck!