Liberal Bloggers Reaching Out to Major Media(FR mention)

NYTIMES ^ | 03/14/05 | JONATHAN D. GLATER

[Pikamax]

Liberal Bloggers Reaching Out to Major Media By JONATHAN D. GLATER

ven as online pundits criticize traditional news organizations as slow, biased and technologically challenged, a group of bloggers is trying to use old-fashioned telephone conference calls to share their ideas with newspaper and television journalists.

The bloggers, who describe themselves as liberal or progressive, say the conference calls are intended to counter what they regard as the much stronger influence of conservative pundits online. Bob Fertik, president of Democrats.com, the host of the two calls so far, views them as a step toward getting their reports out to mainstream news organizations.

While there is no way to know precisely who dialed in, reporters from news organizations including CBS, The Washington Post, Newsweek, MSNBC and The National Journal asked for a call-in number, according to one participant.

"We hope to build a bridge," Mr. Fertik said, adding that different bloggers would be invited to share their reporting on each call. "We hope that good credible stories that are broken on the Internet find their way into coverage in the mainstream media."

The conference call is a small development in the complex relationship between bloggers and the mainstream media. Traditional journalists largely ignored bloggers when they emerged, but have begun to take note of their influence as online commentators assumed roles in news stories like the flaws in the report by "60 Minutes Wednesday" on President Bush's National Guard service and the comments by the former CNN chief, Eason Jordan, about the military's treatment of journalists in Iraq.

As more news emerges online, or what is reported offline becomes fodder for further investigation, the lines between those operating in the world of online news and commentary and those at the traditional media organizations have become more blurred and sometimes less confrontational. Some news organizations now credit blogs that originate stories, extending to them the treatment other media receive. Some bloggers, in turn, argue that they should receive all the legal privileges that traditional journalists often have, including the right to protect news sources.

Mr. Fertik maintains that the blurring of boundaries has benefited left-wing bloggers less than their adversaries on the right, saying that reports posted on conservative blogs more easily make the jump to the main news media. "The way we perceive it," he said, "is that right-wing bloggers are able to invent stories, get them out on Drudge, get them on Rush Limbaugh, get them on Fox, and pretty soon that spills over into the mainstream media. We, the progressives, we don't have that kind of network to work with."

Some on the right disagree, arguing that the news reported by traditional media is tainted by liberal bias. "We learned years ago that the mainstream media just weren't going to pay attention to us," said Kristinn Taylor of the Web site FreeRepublic.com.

But bloggers on all sides agree that the left has made less effective use of the opportunities to organize and wield influence afforded by the Internet. The reasons, though, are more complex than they might appear. "It's not just a story about the blogosphere," said Jack M. Balkin, a professor and director of the Information Society Project at Yale Law School. "It's a story about the conservative social networks of which the blogosphere is a part. The important thing is the network - and I mean the social network."

It is probably too early to tell how successful the conference calls have been, although Mr. Fertik said that the audio recording of the first call had been downloaded some 2,000 times. During the second call, held last Tuesday, Brad Friedman, who runs bradblog.com, discussed his investigation into accusations of rigged electronic voting machines - a contentious subject that drew questions from listeners, mostly other bloggers.

Some phoned from far away, including places in Canada, to take part in the call, which lasted more than an hour. Listeners asked if a figure in Mr. Friedman's inquiry had taken a lie-detector test and if any traditional news outlets had picked up the story.

Will Femia, a producer at MSNBC.com who monitors blogging, said he was surprised by how well that call worked. "It was a fascinating idea," he said, "and I would also say that it's not a bad idea to try something like that. I know that the news producers that I've spoken with are still engaged in a learning curve on how to extract news from blogs."

Mr. Femia, who sometimes presents ideas based on bloggers' postings, said he was not sure exactly how stories made the transition. "I don't know what the tipping point is," he said, adding that some reporters clearly checked blogs for ideas.

Another conservative Web site, younger than FreeRepublic.com, may offer the best lesson on how to gain influence, a lesson that would resonate with any aspiring journalist: tell a compelling, highly topical story.

Powerlineblog.com was one of the first blogs to spread criticism of the documents used as evidence in the "60 Minutes Wednesday" segment, said Paul Mirengoff, a Washington lawyer and a member of the site. "We put the question on our blog and then our readers started weighing in," he said, adding that because the topic was so sensational, it was inevitable that it would make it into the mainstream media.

"That really spiked our readership," Mr. Mirengoff said, and established the site as a force to be reckoned with.

But he disputed the idea that conservative bloggers had greater success in getting their stories spread by mainstream reporters. "The left just thinks we're getting a free ride and the mainstream media are just eating out of our hand," he said. "That's just not the case."

He added that he would be curious to see what happened with the conference call effort. "It never would've occurred to me," he said. "It seems a reasonable thing to do and if it works, we might copy it."

Mr. Balkin said that building the influence of a particular Web site requires more than simply expressing conservative views online or taking on a broadcast journalist like Dan Rather. What matters is the willingness of like-minded people to establish links to that Web site, to drive more traffic there, and of yet other like-minded people in traditional news organizations, in talk radio and on television to draw on it.

"It's a team effort," Mr. Taylor of FreeRepublic.com said. "We feed off each other, because the radio hosts would have information that we didn't have and then we would post that." In the early days of FreeRepublic, meetings with politicians and other offline efforts helped get word of the site out, too.

Right-leaning bloggers were unified by the presence of President Bill Clinton in the 1990's, Mr. Balkin said. That fueled their sense of commitment, he said, adding that while the war in Iraq might have a similar effect on the left now, that would take time.

Asked what lessons liberal and progressive bloggers could learn from the experience of FreeRepublic, Mr. Taylor replied that while "I'm loath to give them advice," they might have to outgrow the conspiracy-theory stage of blogging to produce reports that are credible and relevant to a wider audience.

"In the old days of FreeRepublic," he said, "we had all kinds of black helicopters" and speculation about the effect of the Y2K problem. After the world did not end on Jan. 1, 2000, he said, "We tried to be more realistic."

[martin_fierro]

But bloggers on all sides agree that the left has made less effective use of the opportunities to organize and wield influence afforded by the Internet. The reasons, though, are more complex than they might appear. "It's not just a story about the blogosphere," said Jack M. Balkin, a professor and director of the Information Society Project at Yale Law School. "It's a story about the conservative social networks of which the blogosphere is a part. The important thing is the network - and I mean the social network."

So Socialists don't know how to use the social network. Hmmmmm.

[Peach]

Kristinn is quoted twice in this article.

[TruthShallSetYouFree]

the conference calls are intended to counter what they regard as the much stronger influence of conservative pundits online

Once again, the Left doesn't get it. They see the glow of headlights coming from around the bend and then see a kid on a bicycle flattened by a truck, so they assume the youngster's demise was caused by the glow of the headlights.

The bloggers are the headlights, you liberal weenies. The truck that is doing the real damage is called "the truth." Conservative bloggers have more influence--not because they are conspiriatorially connected, not because they all read the memo in the morning--because they tell the truth. Just ask Dan Rather.

All the left-wing conference calls and faxes don't mean a thing unless they are telling the truth. And they're not.

[Samurai_Jack]

a group of bloggers is trying to use old-fashioned telephone conference calls to share their ideas with newspaper and television journalists.

Yeah, skip the blogs and go for the DIRECT FEED

so much for an "independent" and "unbiased" Press

[Wonder Warthog]

Laughable story on any level except as an indicator of 1)how clueless the stone-age media is, and 2)how strongly they exhibit liberal bias. Not particularly unexpected of the NYT, of course.

[joesbucks]

The black helicopters and Y2K were useful tools in using against a democrat in the White House. Once a republican got in, then those who used those as their claim to fame were no longer necessary and viewed as our "crazy aunt". I wonder if a democrat returns to the White House if suddenly these fringers or "crazy aunts" will be welcome again in the fight? They were useful then, will they useful in the future?

[razorback-bert]

It appears the socialist have to call the press, because the press won't read theirs.

[cricket]

"The way we perceive it," he said, "is that right-wing bloggers are able to invent stories, get them out on Drudge, get them on Rush Limbaugh, get them on Fox, and pretty soon that spills over into the mainstream media. We, the progressives, we don't have that kind of network to work with."

Living in their Marxist mind-world; these people cannot escape their own warped view of the universe. . .

We do not want a bridge to 'there'. . .

[WorkingClassFilth]

"The way we perceive it," he said, "is that right-wing bloggers are able to invent stories, get them out on Drudge, get them on Rush Limbaugh, get them on Fox, and pretty soon that spills over into the mainstream media."

Looks like perception is a problem on the port deck of the MSM Titanic. The big story is that invention, for the Left, is the illegitimate child of necessity.

[AmericanChef]

-"It's a story about the conservative social networks of which the blogosphere is a part. The important thing is the network - and I mean the social network."

So Socialists don't know how to use the social network. Hmmmmm.-

A real network implies equality rather than a bunch of Rats at the top directing their peons. Not the fake equality lefties rant on about.

[SoFloFreeper]

Once again, the Left doesn't get it. They see the glow of headlights coming from around the bend and then see a kid on a bicycle flattened by a truck, so they assume the youngster's demise was caused by the glow of the headlights.

The bloggers are the headlights, you liberal weenies. The truck that is doing the real damage is called "the truth." Conservative bloggers have more influence--not because they are conspiriatorially connected, not because they all read the memo in the morning--because they tell the truth.

Great analogy.

[randog]

Asked what lessons liberal and progressive bloggers could learn from the experience of FreeRepublic, Mr. Taylor replied that while "I'm loath to give them advice," they might have to outgrow the conspiracy-theory stage of blogging to produce reports that are credible and relevant to a wider audience.

Finally, after yards of article, the author finally uncovers what makes blogs/forums work (thanks to a freeper, Kristinn). It must have been a stunning revelation to him.

[Spirited]

"Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth."

[planekT]

...I know that the news producers that I've spoken with are still engaged in a learning curve on how to extract news from blogs."...

They are learning to read?

[Drango]

"In the old days of FreeRepublic," he said, "we had all kinds of black helicopters"

There are still plenty left.

[Viking2002]

Libs still can't connect the dots. Conservative blogs and talk radio is the counterweight to the stifling blanket of 'mainstream' liberal media bias. It is our dominion now. There is no fertile ground for them to plow with their Utopian tax-and-spend schemes and their Howard Dean black helicopter theories. The Internet is an open venue where people can learn all they need to make up their own minds, as opposed to being programmed by the alphabet networks and the op-ed pages of the big city Leftist fish wrappers. The Left will never become power players in this realm because it requires intellectual substance. All they offer is smoke, mirrors, and hysteria.

[TruthShallSetYouFree]

Thank you.

[clyde260]

"is that right-wing bloggers are able to invent stories"

INVENT?

[harpu]

With stories like this, and too many others (like it) of late, I would not be surprised to find FReeRepublic (and other blogs) subject to the overly broad umbrella of 'campaign finance' regulations by the 2008 election.

SAD!!