Thanks to Joe Heisler for having me on his show “Talk of the Neighborhoods”, tonight on Boston Neighborhood Network TV. Great fun.
One thought coming out of it: It occurs to me that when we get interviewed, everyone wants to know, “How much influence do you guys actually have?” And our answer is always this: We’re in no position to know. The folks who are watching us — the pro journalists, the campaigns, the readers — are in a much better position to assess that than we are. We just crank this stuff out and hope for the best, honestly.
Anyway, I’ll have something to say about the debate soon; thankfully, it didn’t look like the cringe-fest of last week.
Please share widely!
Just home from another campaign event at which people who I barely know, people who I’d never expect to be here at BMG, mention the site and my posts here…I’d say the influence is a lot more than anyone can imagine. Certainly more than those who have an interest in propping up dying old media know or care to admit.
We have an interest in propping up “old dying media” — by encouraging it to be bold and relevant. We’re all dependent on professional journos doing their job well. The “old media” are in trouble because they haven’t done that — at least not enough.
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Anyway — your posts do kick butt, RB. Take a bow.
And you’re right. It is important to reinvent and reinvigorate our traditional media. Print, radio, and television are essential, especially for the great number of people who do not have access to the internet or the knowhow to find sites like BMG. I guess that one of my points, which I didn’t make especially well, is that many working in these forms seem very averse to change. In addition, we saw in the primary how much their old-game playbooks are not as relevant as they used to be. THIS is what I wanted to stress.
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What I was really moving towards was exactly the sort of incredulous manner with which sites like BMG are addressed. I mean, what could some MA political blog possibly offer to affect mainstream politics…? The answer is, a lot more than we know. I have met Charley and some other major players back at the convention. I met johnmurphylaw on primary night, in a random conversation in which BMG came up and we both realized that the other was a poster. Other non posters have showed up at the Central MA Unity event and other places, including one of our Worcester volunteers just tonight. How she knew who I was I’m not sure, but she immediately brought this blog to the discussion and mentioned connecting me with my postings. Scary powerful stuff, at least to me.
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I made the point in a recent comment that it scared me how many people read the things I write, sometimes with less discrection and more drinks in me than I should…I find more and more that the BMG impact continues to grow. So you take yourself a few bows, Charley… AND the rest of the gang too. I just think that more and more each day, this site and the blog/netroot/series of tubes approach to politics grows stronger. Dismiss or minimalize it at your own peril.
I certainly didn’t mean to suggest that Charley or others here dismiss or minimalize our impact. I was referring to traditional media/pundits/certain candidates/etc.
both local and national, I have been stunned at the number of people I meet who consider themselves “lurkers” who post little, or not at all.
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Yet they come out to these events–which is terrific! I wish everyone was able to post, but for lots of people work issues or just shyness are a factor. But they are watching….
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I have no idea how to quantitate that, or even guess at how many more are reading but not turning up at events either. Guessing it is much bigger than we expect.