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.
12:07:48 AM ;;
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