'Daily Kos' blogger pans print, TV media

'We got tired of being spectators,' Kos founder says

By Jeff Smith, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published August 25, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas smiled and exclaimed "yeah" when a reporter noted Sunday that his progressive Web site has more readers than most American newspapers.

Make that 40 million page views a month, he said, and 1.2 million to 1.5 million unique visitors a month.

Moulitsas gave a reason why political blogs are changing the country's landscape as he helped kick off the festivities at The Big Tent, which is hosting bloggers and panel discussions during the Democratic National Convention.

"We're not spectators," Moulitsas said. "The reason we exist as a movement and as a medium is that we got tired of being spectators. We got tired of watching and being fed information."

He also had some critical things to say about traditional media and how it's doing its job: wrong, in his opinion.

"We want reporters to do their things correctly," he said.

By that, he suggested he means digging for and reporting the truth.

Moulitsas, 36, is the son of a Salvadoran mother and Greek father. His family fled the civil war in El Salvador, and settled in the Chicago area in the early 1980s.

According to the biography on his Web site, he initially was a Republican but "abandoned the GOP" soon after enlisting in the U.S. Army in the 1980s.

He has a law degree from Boston University and a background in philosophy, journalism and political science. He dabbled in the dot-com industry in San Francisco and once worked for a Web development company before starting Daily Kos in 2002.

"I'm trained as a reporter," he said Sunday, but quipped, "I don't want to do your job. I'm too lazy to do your job."

Instead, he clearly enjoys being regarded as one of the most influential voices on the Web.

Moulitsas helped create The Big Tent, but gave credit to others for making it a much bigger deal than he had envisioned.

Hosts include the nonprofit Alliance for Sustainable Colorado and Progress Now, with Google, Digg, EcoDrivingUSA and Meru Networks the lead sponsors.

The 8,000-square-foot, two-story temporary facility at 15th and Wynkoop streets is expected to host nearly 500 bloggers, including conservative ones, during the convention as well as town hall-type panels on everything from energy to health care to the economy.

"We're providing access to people who don't always get it," said Bobby Clark, deputy director of ProgressNow.org in Denver.

"This right here is a culmination," said Moulitsas, who noted that bloggers generally work in isolation.

"What I'm interested in personally is the ability to sit together with my fellow bloggers and collaborate as we discuss what's happening at the convention and start filling (in) the story lines. That will drive us to November."

The Big Tent

1536 Wynkoop St.

MONDAY PANEL DISCUSSIONS

* "Faith in Public Life," 9-9:55 a.m.

* "Reducing (Energy) Demand: Green for All," 10-10:55 a.m.

* "Left Behind: What Katrina and a Stolen Election Taught Us About Race and American Politics," 11-11:55 a.m.

* "Now or Never: Climate Solutions," 12:20-12:55 p.m.

* "Progressives vs. Conservatives," 5-5:50 p.m.

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