The Moderate Voice always encourages blogs to do original reporting. Why? Because blogs have a potential to be FAR more than just ornate op-ed pages (which is what this one is most of the time as well). Blogging allows ANYONE to create, package and present ORIGINAL reporting to readers — without having an editor to give a green-light on what and how it is presented.
skippy the bush kangaroo (who writes in lowercase) has an interview that should be of SPECIAL interest to all readers — those on the right, left and center. He interviews Professor Richard Hanley of Quinnipiac’s School of Journalism in detail on the role of blogs in the hotly contested Connecticut Democratic primary race between Senator Joe Lieberman and challenger Ned Lamont.
It needs to be read in full, but here’s one quote from Hanley (remember that skippy writes in LOWER CASE):
the dump joe bumper stickers have been around for a few years now, so the blogs fulfilled two roles: creating a specific demand for a specific challenge and reflecting a larger desire for the same thing. that’s a very effective combination, and it illustrates the tremendous functionality of blogs to both drive and reflect emerging political sensibilities among the electorate.
a key question is whether blogs can influence the results of the august primary. voters who are busy and have yet to decide on a candidate will field information about the candidates from a variety of sources, including legacy media, so as i pointed out earlier, marginal voters may not be influenced by specific blogs and specific postings as they will by a wider variety of content.
Hanley gives a thought-provoking stand-back analysis, quite a different kind than you get from many blogs that (on the right or left) seemingly have a vested interest in advocating one viewpoint.
Read the interview in its entirety.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.