South Knox Bubba has
an interesting take on the coverage by bloggers at the DNC this week.
"Here's something I found interesting this week. I expected bloggers to cover all the trivial stuff like and who said what snarky thing to who and who was drinking what and who was hanging out with who at what parties and so on.
"Interestingly, the cable news media seemed to be covering that, and the bloggers were delivering the substantive observations and commentary."
In reading this, I have to wonder some things. It seems as though." the mainstream media--ie the cable outlets--see the convention as pretty much "been there, done that, got the T-shirt" because a lot of them have done this type of things before. Also, there seems to be this race to immediately get talking heads on the screen to tell us what someone said or how we should interpret it, since we, the general viewing audience, can't figure that out for ourselves. (Hell, we're too dumb to know what network we're watching without that nice little logo in the corner to tell us all the time!) But I wonder if those who are bloggers out there see the convention as something more. They have been given access to something and it's not old hat to them. They're not there to go to parties, to hobnob with celebrities and to try and show off how smart they are (well, OK maybe the last one applies but just a little!). They are there to be an insider on the process, to let us who can't go know more about what it's like to be there. I'm not a Democrat, but I have a feeling just being at either party's convention would be a fascinating exercise just for the pagentry that goes on and seeing the thing we know as democracy in action. After all, this type of system--with a free debate and exchange of ideas, is what makes America so great. Even if I disagree with everything that is said, we all, at least have the right to say it. Now that's not to say that bloggers who go to go may not have their own agenda as well. Let's face it, Michael Moore ain't likely to get an invite to the RNC in a couple of weeks. But there are probably a good number there who are going to report on what it's like and what's going on and not spin it through whatever bias you choose to see--whether it's CNN or FOX news.
posted by Michael Hickerson at 7/30/2004 07:51:00 PM |
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