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Monday, 14 February, 2005
 
warrior class web loggers

Current Inextricates: Joseph Steffan, James (Gannon) Guckart, and Eason Jordon. This is my word for people who have gotten themselves into a position they cannot extricate themselves from. Usually by being too clever by a measure.

Joseph Steffen in MD for Ehrlich, Led a campaign to spread rumors (and brag about it) concerning infidelity and out of wedlock children, by Baltimore mayor Martin O'Malley. Who as it happens is contemplating challengeing Steffan's boss, Robert Ehrlich, for Governor next year Ehrlich Issues Salvo on Steffen, Purge of Staff. He also seems to have functioned as a bureaucratic hitman circulating through a number of Maryland state agencies, targeting mid-level employees for ideological purging. Mr. Ehrlich's 'Grim Reaper'. Similarly there is James (Gordan) Guckart for the Bush administration. pseudo-named weblogger off the street, who self identifies himself as a journalist, gets a never ending string of day passes to White House press briefings (which I never get). Pointedly serves softball - rubber bouncy ball questions, and uses others to launch vituperative forays against congress :Globe and Mail: White House correspondent exposed as pseudo-journalist. Some articles Guardian Unlimited | Fake reporter unmasked at White House note he may also be a person of interest in the Valarie Plame matter. Eason Jordon chased himself right out of a nice job at CNN with his comments at Davos. What can I say? The guy is an idiot. This war is uncoverable enough as is between defacto and de jure censorship on DoD's part, and murdurous thuggery on the insurgencies part, without incendiary accusations. It is a war where no one has much use for the press.

In company with these folk I'd like to give a dis-honorable mention to Harry W. MacDougald for Docugate and Dan Rather's bum rush. He is in no unfortunate circumstance himself; in fact he is "king-of-the-world" at the moment. I hope I'm not the only one to notice that the ultimate effect of that- for the remainder of the election and continuing up to the moment, that story - of how President Bush and the Texas National Guard parted company has remained uncovered and un-answered.

So what is going on here. If you look at who these people are you see Powerline for the latter, and Freeper activity for all them, a New Age seems to be upon us (see:

Will the Media Survive Weblogs? | Metafilter). This sets me wondering who is in the Blogosphere. The Pew internet surveys having been trying to keep tabs on this. A memo from last month Pew Internet & American Life Project: Blogosphere the state of blogging shows

    Blog creators are more likely to be:
  • Men: 57% are male
  • Young: 48% are under age 30
  • Broadband users: 70% have broadband at home
  • Internet veterans: 82% have been online for six years or more
  • Relatively well off financially: 42% live in households earning over $50,000
  • Well educated: 39% have college or graduate degrees
Another report from last year which concerned the election and information consumption online found. These sentences are not direct quotes, originally they referred to the candidates and election I changed some terms to more generic wording (brackets).
    Respondents divide into four types when it comes to their exposure to arguments.
  • Omnivores 43% They get news from many sources, including TV, newspapers, and the internet.
  • Selective Reinforcers 29% Know a lot about the arguments they favor. They are about average in terms of their interest in the campaign, media consumption, and internet use.
  • Tuned Outs 21% Those in this group do not express great interest in [public affairs], and are not news hounds from any media source. [T]hey are less likely than the general population to go online or have college degrees.
  • Contrarians 8% know a good deal about the arguments they oppose, and relatively little [else]. Their interest in public affairs is a little lower than average and their use of traditional media and the internet is at about the national average.
  • Pew Internet & American Life Project: Internet and Democratic Debate

For the 'Blogosphere' the question emerging from the last election is: who doesn't get it? Even as the Howard Dean takes up duties as Chair of the DNC largely on the strength of his use of the Net for fundraising and organizing. Its becoming clear the republicans had their own measure of under the radar effectiveness online. The democrats were sand-bagged by republicans in their gambit to play the candidates military records against one another, they are gradually realizing they were played, and were playing catch-up, but not comprehending quite how. Occam's razor obtains; behind their pseudo-names republican web loggers had more information and benefit of timing than ordinary circumstance allows.

The other question seems to be: Are web loggers journalists. This has been a pointless argument of semantics. Turning on journalists sense of themselves as an entitled medieval guild, and who uses what technology. Web loggers are demonstrating an increasing role and influence in the Marketplace of Ideas a traditional realm of journalism, and academics. This equals power. Power and transformation. As much as I'd like to say 'Freepers and the like can go their own way,' that they are not me or what I do. If Web loggers have opened a new level of public dialogue, and they like the power they have; they must take on the responsibilty that comes with that power in an open society. When I write; I know I am involved in public speech. I am who I say I am. I write about things that I have observed directly, so that my words testify to the veracity of these things. When I comment on what others observe, there are transaction costs. It takes - costs - time, money, information, to judge information, or an information source. I like professional journalists for this, because they have editors, and a Code of Ethics. A creed of commitment to an informed and balanced view. I see the general tenets of this code applying to web loggers: seek truth, minimize harm, act independently (or state who you act for), be accountable - do not hide obscure or evade. Why wouldn't it? Reputation is more than just readers.

When some of these web logging torpedos disparage the "Main Stream Media" I am often left with the impression that it is just that - it's avoidance of rigid ideology - they don't like.


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2005 Paul Bushmiller.
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Prolegemma to any future FAQ.

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