Blog of Talmage 6.7.2004

Bloggers! Convention or Bust!

This just came in on the /dev/null mailing list:

Excerpted: Benton's Communications-related Headlines for 7/6/04

PARTIES TO ALLOW BLOGGERS TO COVER CONVENTIONS FOR FIRST TIME Both the Democratic National Convention and the Republican National Convention this summer will give media credentials to select bloggers. Neither party has ever allowed bloggers to cover one of its presidential conventions firsthand -- and the decision seems to promise a clash of two very different cultures. The conventions have become carefully staged productions intended, primarily, to reintroduce the parties' nominees to the general public. Independent blogs -- especially those focusing on politics -- are far more freewheeling, their authors mixing fact with opinion and under no obligation to be either fair or accurate. It is not clear how the Democratic Party will decide among the more than 60 bloggers who have applied for credentials. Convention officials said they are considering three criteria: the size of the blogger's audience, the "professionalism" of the site and the amount of original material it includes. [SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Brian Faler] (requires registration)