A bit on the blogosphere
A couple of months ago, I entered into a brief dialogue with my buddy Xon concerning just how important blogs were in the national conversation. I said they really weren't that big of a deal, and Xon didn't necessarily agree. I can't seem to recall what issue prompted this discussion, but I do remember changing my mind somewhat just a few weeks later.
I'm not going to sit here and say something to the effect of 'blogs are the wave of the future man ... get on board or get left behind' because, well, I don't necessarily believe that. But I do believe that blogs have become an important - almost integral - component of our news-gathering process and the analysis of said information. Look at the impact conservative blogs had on the Dan Rather story concerning President Bush's service in the Air National Guard. Likewise, consider the role liberal blogs have played with regard to the threatened 'nuclear option' in the Senate.
I think what we're seeing is the rise of an alternative source of media. Granted many of the blogs which offer political commentary are not terribly credible or are unabashedly biased, but there's no mistaking their role in today's environment. And, thankfully, this is starting to happen at the local level.
The Athens Banner-Herald's local government reporter, Blake Aued, did a piece on the day after Christmas concerning the ability of mayoral candidates to effectively use the web. In that piece, some attention was brought to Athens-Clarke County mayoral candidate Andy Rusk's guest-blogging at Athens Politics.
This was a good chance for the traditional media to pick up on the contributions of newer media, such as blogs, but I think the story missed the boat. Publius agreed and said roughly the same thing. The story focused on the ability of political candidates to use the web to raise money and organize supporters - as many other stories concerning blogs had already done. There is some truth to that, but again it missed out on a great opportunity to discuss what the fledgling Athenian blogosphere has done in this community.
Now, don't get me wrong, I don't have grand visions of us rising up to challenge the traditional media like the Banner-Herald or Flagpole. Those are professional organizations with full-time staffs comprised of hard-worked and talented reporters and editors. It's their job to report the news to the public.
But what I am saying is that, in our own little way, the growing Athenian blogosphere is starting to get some notice in the community. There are instances of local blogs breaking news - such as AP telling us States McCarter wasn't resigning from the Athens-Clarke County Commission - as well as numerous instances of local blogs helping to drive the debate over local issues.
And it's the latter that is most important when it comes to determining the impact of blogs with regard to politics in Athens-Clarke County. I'd venture to say that, at least partly, because of the focus put on issues like the La Puerta del Sol rezoning and the poverty rates in Athens-Clarke County, those issues have risen to the forefront. Just a few months ago, no one in this town was even talking about the poor in this town (as a political issue for candidates to deal with), but a couple of agencies may be forced to shut their doors, Rusk begins talking about the poor and we in the blogosphere keep on talking about ways to make this community more prosperous and secure ... and all of a sudden, something that wasn't an issue before is now worthy of a special task force and draped across the front page of the Banner-Herald.
Again, I'm not saying it's because of us, but it's hard to deny that our constant harping about didn't help keep it at the forefront of the local political scene.
All one has to do is take a look at the wide variety of local political blogs, and one can't help but come away thinking that something is getting going here. And, as Publius pointed out a few days back, candidates and other community leaders would be advised to keep in touch with the local bloggers. One of the reasons we like Rusk so much is because of his willingness to participate in the discussion with us. I don't see eye-to-eye with Rusk on everything, and I even was a little hard on him a little while ago, but I'm leaning toward backing his candidacy because he is eager to join in the dialogue and take some criticism here and there.
There are a ton of local political blogs out there. I've come across a couple in Oconee County, including two which often having dueling debates and criticisms at their sites, and I've done my best to offer links to them (two of the Oconee County ones are even absurdly conservative, but feature nice enough guys who I've enjoyed discussing and debating with):
Athens-Clarke County
• Antidisingenuousmentarianism (Liberal)
• Athens Politics (Liberal)
• Athens World (Center-to-Liberal)
• Safe As Houses (Center-to-Liberal)
Oconee County
• Jay Hanley: Mr. Republican Jr. (Conservative)
• Oconee Politics (Liberal)
• Oconee County News and Commentary (Conservative)
I'm not going to sit here and say something to the effect of 'blogs are the wave of the future man ... get on board or get left behind' because, well, I don't necessarily believe that. But I do believe that blogs have become an important - almost integral - component of our news-gathering process and the analysis of said information. Look at the impact conservative blogs had on the Dan Rather story concerning President Bush's service in the Air National Guard. Likewise, consider the role liberal blogs have played with regard to the threatened 'nuclear option' in the Senate.
I think what we're seeing is the rise of an alternative source of media. Granted many of the blogs which offer political commentary are not terribly credible or are unabashedly biased, but there's no mistaking their role in today's environment. And, thankfully, this is starting to happen at the local level.
The Athens Banner-Herald's local government reporter, Blake Aued, did a piece on the day after Christmas concerning the ability of mayoral candidates to effectively use the web. In that piece, some attention was brought to Athens-Clarke County mayoral candidate Andy Rusk's guest-blogging at Athens Politics.
This was a good chance for the traditional media to pick up on the contributions of newer media, such as blogs, but I think the story missed the boat. Publius agreed and said roughly the same thing. The story focused on the ability of political candidates to use the web to raise money and organize supporters - as many other stories concerning blogs had already done. There is some truth to that, but again it missed out on a great opportunity to discuss what the fledgling Athenian blogosphere has done in this community.
Now, don't get me wrong, I don't have grand visions of us rising up to challenge the traditional media like the Banner-Herald or Flagpole. Those are professional organizations with full-time staffs comprised of hard-worked and talented reporters and editors. It's their job to report the news to the public.
But what I am saying is that, in our own little way, the growing Athenian blogosphere is starting to get some notice in the community. There are instances of local blogs breaking news - such as AP telling us States McCarter wasn't resigning from the Athens-Clarke County Commission - as well as numerous instances of local blogs helping to drive the debate over local issues.
And it's the latter that is most important when it comes to determining the impact of blogs with regard to politics in Athens-Clarke County. I'd venture to say that, at least partly, because of the focus put on issues like the La Puerta del Sol rezoning and the poverty rates in Athens-Clarke County, those issues have risen to the forefront. Just a few months ago, no one in this town was even talking about the poor in this town (as a political issue for candidates to deal with), but a couple of agencies may be forced to shut their doors, Rusk begins talking about the poor and we in the blogosphere keep on talking about ways to make this community more prosperous and secure ... and all of a sudden, something that wasn't an issue before is now worthy of a special task force and draped across the front page of the Banner-Herald.
Again, I'm not saying it's because of us, but it's hard to deny that our constant harping about didn't help keep it at the forefront of the local political scene.
All one has to do is take a look at the wide variety of local political blogs, and one can't help but come away thinking that something is getting going here. And, as Publius pointed out a few days back, candidates and other community leaders would be advised to keep in touch with the local bloggers. One of the reasons we like Rusk so much is because of his willingness to participate in the discussion with us. I don't see eye-to-eye with Rusk on everything, and I even was a little hard on him a little while ago, but I'm leaning toward backing his candidacy because he is eager to join in the dialogue and take some criticism here and there.
There are a ton of local political blogs out there. I've come across a couple in Oconee County, including two which often having dueling debates and criticisms at their sites, and I've done my best to offer links to them (two of the Oconee County ones are even absurdly conservative, but feature nice enough guys who I've enjoyed discussing and debating with):
Athens-Clarke County
• Antidisingenuousmentarianism (Liberal)
• Athens Politics (Liberal)
• Athens World (Center-to-Liberal)
• Safe As Houses (Center-to-Liberal)
Oconee County
• Jay Hanley: Mr. Republican Jr. (Conservative)
• Oconee Politics (Liberal)
• Oconee County News and Commentary (Conservative)
posted by Jmac at 3:58 PM
7 Comments:
Good post. I can speak that on the Oconee side, where we only have one weekly "news source" and until recently absentee news reporting from the ABH, blogs are already changing things by putting a lot of voices out there and getting news out much faster.
Indeed, the grandaddy of all Oconee blogs is www.avoc.info. Whether you agree with him or not, having an ex county commission chair airing his opinions online makes that one kind of a pioneer. Wendell has been doing this for years. Its not in the traditional format (wish it would generate RSS like the others to make it easier to track), but some very good NEGA news is posted there frequently.
Someone at metroblogger in Atlanta made a great point -- blogs already allow citizens to learn more about small town and BOE politics b/c the big papers just don't have the resources to already be there. It is also raising the bar for said traditional media.
And the lack of editing, while dangerous, also allows people to editorialize and ask harder questions, which can be good.
Jmac, I think you're right on about the rise of an alternative media. The sad part is that many people are only subscribing to what they want to hear, which can be dangerous, but having more voices is a good thing, as long as everyone is willing to listen.
Wow, I feel all important now. So, in the spirit of not-so-rhteorical questions, I would ask, which is more important for blogs' influence, having a wide readership, or a smaller readership consisting of opinion leaders and the like?
Excellent rhetorical question my friend, and I don't know if I have a non-rhetorical answer for you.
Having a wide readership means more and more people are getting involved in the discussion, and it also gives a tangible way to point to the influence over a larger section of the community.
On the other hand, having a small, but active and dedicated (and potentially influential) group as your readership base is good since it means you're reaching individuals in positions which can make a difference.
Tough call. I'm tempted to opt for a large and diverse readership base since that means you're, potentially, including more people. But I can be swayed on that.
Regarding our anonymous poster, thanks for the kind words. I agree with you that it is a concern that people often subscribe to what they want to hear. As a Democrat, I find myself going to more liberal sites and I often grow more frustrated with their arguments and rationales than I do when I read conservative sites. It's important to take a look at every issue and every story from every angle, and then make a decision.
In a place like Athens I think that blogs actually could rival the dead-tree outlets. A lot of us already read the ABH and the Flagpole online. A lot of us have Internet access everywhere we turn around. As far as I'm concerned, making my blog rounds is as important as checking onlineathens.com. I don't regularly read any particular blog, though, because there are so many and I'm more interested in finding additional news rather than additional commentary. I do wonder if the bloggers might ever collaborate and act as a single news bureau. We could then easily jump into print and radio: it should be simple to distribute a monthly or weekly publication, and I'm sure 100.7 FM would be glad to handle more talk programming on community issues.
I, for one, would be happy to do some stuff on 100.7 on local politics. JMac, you on board?
My ramble on about my opinions? Yeah, I think I could possible swing that. :)
Seriously though, that's a great idea Adrian. And I think there is something there to what you're saying. Combining our resources could really lead to us doing some pretty cool things (the poverty initiative that Publius and I have bantered back and forth is one right off the bat).
"I don't have grand visions of us rising up to challenge the traditional media like the Banner-Herald or Flagpole. Those are professional organizations with full-time staffs comprised of hard-worked and talented reporters and editors. "
While it's nice for you to give props to folks working at these places it seems pretty obvious to me that the ABH is more concerned with "objective" journalism, inso far as such a thing is possible, than the Flagpole is. Flagpole is really playing in the far-left field most of the time and, consequently, hardly anyone takes it seriously as a political voice.
To be sure, Flagpole is probably not concerned with being objective and is more concerned with being a magazine of liberal advocacy. That's fine. They can do what they want. But, on the whole, I don't know anyone that takes Flagpole's political articles seriously.
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