Mike Bryan, over at Blog for Arizona, raises an interesting question: After a year of partisan warfare how should liberal bloggers direct their energies? As Mike puts it,
“My heart just isn't in the blogging at the moment. Every time I think about a topic I might want to blog about a little voice says, "Well, who cares, really?" I've been locked in oppositional mode for so long that I've lost the taste for anything but GOP blood.”
I have a modest suggestion for a collective undertaking by Arizona’s political bloggers of both the left and the right. You’ve probably noticed that the daily press has pretty much stopped local political reporting even though there is plenty going on in each party.
(Even during the hot dead center of the political campaign I doubt that political reporters—many of them relative newcomers—would have written as much had it not been for the fact that they were bombarded by press releases.)
I think we should take over the neglected political reporting. Why not attend your district’s Republican and Democratic club meetings and briefly report on what’s going on. Is there a leadership debate, local pressure for a particular piece of legislation, or action plan under consideration?
Volunteer to cover your legislative district’s representatives. How are they voting, what are they saying about current and future legislation? Call them on the phone, introduce yourself, and get them to think of you as a reporter, rather than yet another disputatious blogger. (Grins)
Just a couple of suggestions, but you get the idea. Less editorializing, more reporting.
2 comments:
Worthwhile thoughts, Art.
Like Michael, I am also going through a certain transformation of some kind, and mine also extends to the "career thing" which does have implications.
I just posted at my place about George, who apparently has chosen to delete his entire blog. That seems a bit severe to me, but hey, it's his blog and he's within his rights.
I would certainly hope you never delete TDP. Some of your posts and the threads they start are content I regard every bit as valuable as stuff that gets formally published.
george tuttle,
First, I'm sorry to hear that you won't be posting and that you deleted your entire blog.
However, I think you might be selling the blogosphere short. It's true that we can't measure the influence of the blogosphere right now but we know for sure that it is gaining ground in the world of politics.
Interestingly enough, "anonymous" made some comments on a blog several days ago that just blew me away. Guess where this was? Yes, amigo, it was on your blog.
The payoff is more transparent, obviously, and we like to see our results. That's understandable but yet it's self defeating. Those who spread the word are certainly an important part of the movement, make no mistake about it.
But, good luck to you in whatever you choose to do.
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