The blogger mix
Political parties shouldn't apply litmus test to 'citizen journalists'
Rocky Mountain News
Published August 25, 2008 at 11:43 a.m.
When the credentialed blogger corps whips out its laptops to chronicle the Democratic National Convention, its members will have a lot more in common than HTML prowess.
A glance at the 120-strong list of credentialed blogs (encompassing, the DNC tells us, about 700 bloggers) reveals a strong ideological bent — excluding nonpartisan sites such as BeliefNet and some state political sites. Not surprisingly, it’s to the progressive or left-of-center side of the spectrum.
The DNC told us that this list is representative of the blogs that applied for credentials. Without a list of applicants — something the DNC wouldn’t provide, citing the same privacy standards applied to other media organizations’ applications — it’s impossible to tell how many blogs of differing viewpoints may have tried to get in but got rejected for whatever reason.
The application for the DNC’s State Blogger Corps — a new program to seat bloggers who cover state and local politics with their home-state delegation — might have scared off some libertarian or right-of-center applicants with this statement: “Bloggers may also provide examples of posts that make their blog stand out as an effective online organizing tool and/or agent of change.”
“Change,” in this election cycle, tends to be code for “supports Obama.” That’s fine if you’re looking to credential a corps of party cheerleaders. But when compiling a group of citizen journalists, the standards should be competency, ethics and track record — what you’d expect from any other journalist.
“When we were at the media day,” one local conservative blogger told us, “I asked specifically how much of a role ideology would play in the credentialing process and the gentleman guiding us through the orientation simply refused to answer.”
The case over at the Republican National Convention is hazy, as well. Another blogger told us that he believes he was denied RNC credentials because of his vociferous opposition to John McCain, which is also impossible to confirm.
The RNC told us that invitations had been sent out to 200 blogs representing a “dynamic cast,” including left-leaning powerhouses Wonkette, The Huffington Post and BlogHer. But there’s no list available to peruse, as the RNC told us RSVPs were still coming in.
The speculation goes on and on, but it’s true that independent bloggers — whose work is studied by credentialing committees at the very least to determine a blog’s legitimacy and staying power — are much more likely than traditional media to have their ideology taken into account when seeking press access. That’s in part because there are no safeguards (such as a big media organization in their corner) to ensure this isn’t taken into account. Are bloggers classified as activists? Journalists? A bit of both?
You can’t imagine the DNC banning Fox News from walking in the door, or the Republican National Convention shutting out National Public Radio. Ideological screening of the media is just not something you do in a society that cherishes freedom of the press.
The same neutrality should apply when credentialing bloggers to cover political conventions. Surely we don’t want a system that seeks to use bloggers as propaganda mouthpieces as opposed to citizen journalists reporting on the conventions for their Web audiences.
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August 25, 2008
12:46 p.m.
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SDaedalus writes:
"Ideological screening of the media is just not something you do in a society that cherishes freedom of the press....Surely we don’t want a system that seeks to use bloggers as propaganda mouthpieces as opposed to citizen journalists reporting...for their Web audiences."
Fair-enough sentiment, but where was RMN's concern during the past couple of years as the White House arranged conference calls with right-leaning bloggers to disseminate their talking-points/arguments on key public policy issues such executive privilege, etc?
As readership of traditional print-media declines and the public increasingly obtains its political news from comedy-media (a la Leno/Stewart/Colbert), talk-radio, and bloggers, the notions of what is considered proper 'journalism' fall by the wayside, for better or worse. For a variety of reasons, blogs are evolving into a predominantly left-wing analog to conservative talk-radio. Few blogs or talk-radio hosts hold themselves out as unbiased, and few readers/listeners seriously consider either group as 'journalists' in the traditional sense.
Preferential treatment of blogs/talk-radio based upon their political bias -does- manipulate public opinion and undermine the quality of citizen decision-making: politicians/campaigns wouldn't waste their time if it didn't work. And it will be as unhealthy for the political process for Obama or McCain to do it as it was for Bush. But our collective tolerance of these tactics over the past several years makes it unlikely that we'll ever go back to the more genteel approach that RMN now so nobly advocates.
I could cynically suggest that RMN simply ‘get used to it’…but its too late for that: RMN and the rest of America is –already- tolerant of this tactic and none of us should be surprised when the next president takes full advantage of our acquiescence.
August 26, 2008
10:38 a.m.
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fairness writes:
gloriapoole: Please provide specifics of your accusations. You can spew all you want, but without providing quotes, and where to find them, you have no credibility.
Yes, you are entitled (can I say that around a republican - entitlement?) to your opinion. You are not, however, entitled to your own facts. Please provide references so that someone can verify that what you are saying is true. Or, are you like a lot of political ads on both sides where facts only get in the way of good rhetoric?