Take Back America: Panel on Political Blogging

Pictured (left to right): Terrance Heath, Pam Spaulding, Ari Melber, Digby, Tracy Russo, Chris Bowers.

Digby comments on the media. (In the 1980s, she says, the media was responding to a sort of tabloidization in response to the rise of cable news and 24-hour cable television news.) “The news media, speaking as an observer, was a sort of shocking shallow trivial approach to the news. The blogosphere came along and suddenly we had out soapbox.” Points to Atrios’ discovery of Dixiecrat document by Trent Lott in favor of Strom Thurmond. Released on a long weekend. Affected politics. Not the only reason that Trent Lott lost his majority leadership, but it did make a difference.

She says that at the moment the blogosophere is increasingly calling the news media to account for pernicious elements of bias that keep creeping into MSM coverage. She points to recent protest against Christ Matthews.

“We create the alternative narrative. At times — for example in the run-up to the Iraq war — that is the only place you can find that narrative. Returning to the Iraq war, she notes that there was a huge movement of people outside this country, and many millions inside this country, who opposed the decision to invade Iraq, but it was very hard to hear that position on the media inside the country. She says that was a conscious decision by many media outlets: talk show hosts were fired, for example, if they did not conform to the primary narrative.



Pam Spaulding comments on going head to head with the right-wing echo chamber. She says the blogs can provide research and facts to counter-act untruths that are incredible but are repeated endlessly on MSM outlets and are never challenged by the hosts or reporters but are accepted as fact.

She says that the crucial thing to understand is that internet activism, “bubbles up:” put the information out there, create an opportunity for people to make their voice heard or to spread the facts, and the people who have made the smears or spread the untruths will have to respond to them. This bottom-up approach, she says, make blog swarms and activism of this sort extremely destabilizing and hard for establishment media outlets, politicians, and similarly situated elites to deal with.

Q: How do I break into the blogosophere with a new blog? Terrence Heath: Define success for yourself. It is not all about numbers. Digby: Participate in the community, so you can make informed posts. Bowers: If you only get one reader, but that person is important, that can make a big difference. Tracy Russo: The top tier is pretty crowded, but there are a lot of niches, for example health care, and local blogging: there is huge potential there. Pam: Recommends “name checking” (i.e. name dropping in your posts, so that people who have their names plugged into a Google News Alert get a ping), and linking to sources to credit them, build goodwill, and strengthen the network.

Q. How can non-profit and activist groups work with the blogosophere? Bowers: Involve the bloggers in your campaign. Solicit their opinion. Don’t just say: here is a press release, please publish it for me; could you raise some money for us. Gives example of how Richardson campaign cut a TV ad with him about residual forces in Iraq, an issue he has been writing about. Bowers wrote the ad. It made specific comparisons of US troops left in Iraq by the various plans offered by the candidates. That was then the first question in the next Democratic debate. If you want to work with them, you have to treat them as coalition partners. Pam: Don’t just send a press release, include video clips, links, badges etc.: that is real value added. Also, if you do provide video, include a transcript: that can then be copied and forwarded virally.

Q: With the exception of Josh Marshall, the blogosophere appears to have failed to keep up with technological developments by other online media outlets, and to monetize its content. Can the blogosophere be more than just a watchdog for the MSM: can it actually replace the MSM? Bowers: Blogging is not a profession, it is simply a form a self-publishing. Some bloggers consider themselves more focused on reporting. He views himself as a progressive activist who happens to own a small media outlet. Blogging is not any one thing: you have to know who you are dealing with if you want to be effective.

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