Free Republic

At a recent Harvard conference on bloggers and the media, the most pungent statement came from cyberspace. Rebecca MacKinnon, writing about the conference as it happened, got a response on the "comments" space of her blog from someone concerned that if the voices of bloggers overwhelm those of traditional media, "we will throw out some of the best ... journalism of the 21st century." The comment was from Keith Jenkins, an African-American blogger who is also an editor at The Washington Post Magazine [a sister publication of NEWSWEEK]. "It has taken 'mainstream media' a very long time to get to...

A group that claims NASCAR tracks are unsafe environments for minority and female fans is planning its first protest at Saturday's UAW-GM 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway. National Association of Minority Race Fans spokesman Rusty Thomas said Tuesday the group hopes to have up to 100 picketers at Saturday night's Nextel Cup race. "We will have a strong presence in Charlotte," said Shawn Griffith, a filmmaker working on a documentary that he says shows racism among stock car racing fans. Griffith and NAMRF director Jirard Brown appeared at an Oct. 3 news conference at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway after the group...