We've been dissed!
Well, maybe not. Perhaps my babies, Mac-a-ro-nies and Silver Rights are ugly. And, Natasha and Mary's, the watch. Not to omit Barry's Alas, a Blog or Emma's Notes on the Atrocities. Maybe all Oregon bloggers have ugly offspring. It appears the Oregonian thinks so. Today, it ran an article on weblogs that focused totally on the national big guys, and mainly the conservative ones at that. Except for a footnote telling readers how to search for blogs in Oregon, we are treated as unmentionable.
There is the usual genuflection to the much overrated Glenn Reynolds:
InstaPundit.com: The MOAB, or mother of all blogs, Instapundit.com provides pundit Glenn Reynolds' conservative, pro-war take on Iraq. The blog also has links to dozens of other blogs. instapundit.com
Sgt. Stryker and Jeff Jarvis are also covered.
Our blog buddies the Agonist and DailyKos make the cut, but obviously not in the best of company.
Daily Kos: News and commentary about the war from a liberal point of view. The blog also has links to more than three dozen other blogs and has approval ratings for President Bush. www.dailykos.com
The Agonist: Straightforward, up-to-the-minute news summaries of the war, much of them gleaned from CNN. The blog also has links to several dozen blogs, sorted by political stance. www.agonist.org
My overall impression of the Oregonian's piece is an old journalists' phrase, "quick and dirty." That is odd since I've been informed this story has been planned for quite some time. Even if the features editor or the ME decided to shift the focus from Oregon blogs to national blogs, a more diverse group could easily have been assembled. How can Atrios and Josh Marshall be missing from a piece on important bloggers? As possibly the best of the collegiate bloggers, pinchable cheeked Matthew Yglesias deserves a mention. And, Reynolds is only one of several blogging law professors and definitely not the best of the lot. Jack Balkin and Kevin Drum do more thoughtful and thorough analyses of the issues daily.
Some obnoxious bloggers should have been included. As much as I dislike the Anti-idiotarian Rottweiler, Little Green Footballs and Cold Fury, one needs to know about such blogs to get a realistic picture of the blogosphere.
Don't women blog? You wouldn't think so from "Blah, blah, blogs."
Another misperception promoted by the piece is the connection between blogging and the war. Yes, the warblogger and peace blogger camps have become significant. But, blogs predated the war and will continue to play a role in the media after it is over. Anyone who has been observing blogs for even a few weeks should realize domestic news is usually as prominent in them as foreign affairs, probably more.
Also missing from Steve Woodward's laundry list as journalism is any examination of what weblogs are and how they fit into newsgathering. My pet theory is successful bloggers become agenda setters, helping determine what public officials and the intelligentsia deem important. However, there is not a peep about what purpose blogs serve, other than as "online diaries," which few public blogs are.
I don't believe Oregon blogs are so unsightly they need to be hidden from the readers of the state's major newspaper.
Yesterday, someone needed to write an informative article about blogs for the Oregonian. Today, someone still needs to write an informative article about blogs for the Oregonian.
Note: This item was originally published at the watch.
