Reporters In Pajamas
The New York Times Reporter covering the Koz Klan's gathering in Las Vegas admits he wrote his article while wearing pajamas. Kate Phillips mentions that in her last paragraph. Other than that, her story is a typical attempt to inject some excitement into an account of an event that frankly sounds stultifyingly dull.
The gathering resembles a mini-political convention, with seminars instructing participants on the potential power of the blogosphere as well as talks on the Supreme Court, on religion, on the environment, immigration and other issues of the day. No hidden agenda here; the speakers and panelists mocked their own screen-worn politics as those of Bush-bashing, rebel-rousing, noodgy operatives, some already well-known for trying to breathe a new political life online to what the blogocracy views as tired old Democratic ways. Most of the panels, too, emphasize activism, online and offline.
Some even fit the advice column mode. At several sessions on Thursday, one offered political pundit training, (for the mainstream television appearance — smile no-matter-what; wear boring clothes and always a jacket; women, don't tilt your heads; men, keep a hand in one pocket).
The pundit instructors, Jennifer Palmieri, former Clinton press aide, and Judd Legum, both now at the Center for American Progress, which was founded by John Podesta, former chief of staff in the Clinton administration, said they could not be quoted on-the-record. (A rather odd admonishment to the old-stream media, given that someone in the room was probably blogging the entire time.)
There are appearances by several of the big names of the left blogosphere but the story really doesn't give more than an impression of a very earnest gathering of very earnest people slapping themselves on the back. Hot Air's coverage is better.
UPDATE: Nagourney, fully dressed apparently.
They may think of themselves as rebels, separate from mainstream politics and media. But by the end of a day on which the convention halls were shoulder to shoulder with bloggers, Democratic operatives, candidates and Washington reporters, it seemed that bloggers were well on the way to becoming — dare we say it? — part of the American political establishment. Indeed, the convention, the first of what organizers said would become an annual event, seems on the way to becoming as much a part of the Democratic political circuit as the Iowa State Fair.
"It's 2006, and I think we have arrived," Markos Moulitsas, the founder of the Daily Kos and the man for whom the conference was named, announced after being greeted with the kind of reception Elvis, or at least Wayne Newton to a more traditional Las Vegas audience, might have received had he walked into the dowdy ballroom at the Riviera Hotel and Casino. (Mr. Moulitsas was accompanied by a media adviser and bloggers snapped his picture whenever they spotted him.)
Accompanied by a media advisor?
Blogosphere, Legal, Politics | Gaius Saturday, 10 June , 2006
By patch, Saturday, 10 June , 2006 @ 2:29 pm
“Mr. Moulitsas was accompanied by a media adviser…”
So that’s the key to blogging success…
By Gaius, Saturday, 10 June , 2006 @ 2:37 pm
Hey! Maybe I should me one!