Bloggers' Monday Coverage Reveals
Their Diversity
A Media Nation round-up
Tuesday, July 27, 2004
BOSTON -- As the gavel fell on the first day of the Democratic National Convention,
how do things look from Bloggers Row?
Uberblogger Jay Rosen, NYU journalism professor, in his July 25 entry of PressThink
(www. journalism.nyu.edu/pubzone/weblogs/pressthink),
offered his typical loquacious analysis of what blogging means to the convention.
Dave Johnson, meanwhile, who describes himself as "a fellow at a think
tank" on Seeing The Forest (seetheforest.blogspot.com),
was silent from Saturday until Monday afternoon. "I haven't been able to
get online since I got here," he said at the Bloggers Breakfast Monday morning
in a basement function room of Boston's Back Bay Hilton. "I bought a T-Mobile
account, but I haven't been able to get it working," despite his best efforts
at a couple of nearby Starbucks coffee shops.
Boston July 26, 2004-- Bloggers
match the physical world with the cyber world over eggs at the DNC Blogger Breakfast
Monday
Media Nation Photo by Sarah M. J. Welch
As these examples show, grouping all the credentialed bloggers at this convention
into a homogenized lump just doesn't work. They are as diverse as any group of
journalists. Their ages range from 16 to 59. Their attire varies from orange hoodies
and dreadlocks to suits, ties and loafers. One commutes from cushy Brookline;
another is staying with her sister in blue-collar Somerville -- both nearby Boston
suburbs.
Here's a quick survey that reflects the diversity of coverage through Monday
afternoon.
Jeralyn Merritt
talkleft.com
An excited Merritt, 54, headlined her Sunday blog "BOSTON: NOTHING SHORT
OF AMAZING." The cable-news legal analyst and author of a text on the Patriot
Act complained about the $50 cab ride -- with tip -- from the airport. But when
she arrived at her hotel, she was excited to report that "Bill and Hillary"
were there, along with "a few big movie stars we won't mention out of respect
for their privacy." She thanked her readers for their donations, which made
her trip possible. Some of those readers, however, criticized her for not ditching
the cab.
Jessamyn West
librarian.net/dnc
West, a 35-year-old small-town librarian from Vermont, wrote about her experience
getting through the guarded zone around the convention hall on Monday. "It's
been a crazy day . . . I just made my way through the terrible gauntlet that is
Fleet Center security and into the nosebleed seats (Oh, did I say seats? We all
get to stand, except for a few people who got here earlier than I did) with intermittent
Internet access. Fortunately, as a librarian, I'm no stranger to tech-support
problems." She also offered some practical advice: "There's no line
for the ladies' room up on Level 7."
Christopher M. Rabb
www.afro-netizen.org
Rabb, 34, is an indignant sarcastic blogger who describes his Web site as "an
online community of civic-minded, intellectually-curious, and (to a greater or
lesser extent) computer-literate Negroes." In his July 26 entry, Rabb talks
about meeting "a new friend and colleague," Walter Fields, of North
Star Network, an Internet news site for the black community. Both are angered
by the under-representation of black newspapers at the convention.
Ezra Klein
www.pandagon.net
Klein, 20, a UCLA junior, decoded the message-laden DNC Monday morning Bloggers
Breakfast for his readers. He cited the ironic choice of speaker and AP blogger,
Walter Mears (Klein spelled it Mirs), demonstrating the schism between convention
-newbie bloggers and traditional media cashing in on blogger hype. "He's
a legendary reporter . . . only thing was, you see, he had no idea what a blog
was. He didn't know how to get to his. He's never read any of ours."
Carl Brooks, Kristen
DeOliveira, Charles J. Doherty and Bree Herne contributed to this story.
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