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April Reign

Speak your mind even if your voice shakes

bloggers

Kick Ass Bloggers

08/19/2008 by Debra

Kick Ass Blogger Mattt put me down for this award. Thanks Mattt! {{luv}}

Here’s the Rulez;

Choose 5 bloggers that you feel are “Kick Ass Bloggers”
Let ‘em know in your post or via email, twitter or blog comments that they’ve received an award
Share the love and link back to both the person who awarded you and back to MammaDawg
Hop on back to the Kick Ass Blogger Club HQ to sign Mr. Linky then pass it on!

Of course with these awards you can’t link to everyone you feel deserves it and some have already been listed so in no particular order and no disrespect to those not listed;

  1. Hope & Onions: though currently unable to write to her blog, even as an archive it is valuable.
  2. The Apophatic Attic: Go. Read. You’ll thank me.
  3. Pogge: A level of writing and discourse I can only aspire to.
  4. In The House and Senate: 900 ft of goodness.
  5. Blind Man With A Pistol: Just be careful where you stand. 😉


So keep reading and keep writing and remember

Filed Under: Blogging Tagged With: award, blog, bloggers, meme

Citizen journalism, not all it was cracked up to be?

03/17/2008 by Debra

This post is based on American journalism, however, I don’t think Canadian journalism differs that greatly.
There are more questions than answers here so feel free to offer opinion.

From the Annual Report on American Journalism;

The prospects for user-created content, once thought possibly central to the next era of journalism, for now appear more limited, even among “citizen” sites and blogs. News people report the most promising parts of citizen input currently are new ideas, sources, comments and to some extent pictures and video. But citizens posting news content has proven less valuable, with too little that is new or verifiable. (It may thrive at smaller outlets with fewer resources.) And the skepticism is not restricted to the traditional mainstream media or “MSM.” The array of citizen-produced news and blog sites is reaching a meaningful level. But a study of citizen media contained in this report finds most of these sites do not let outsiders do more than comment on the site’s own material, the same as most traditional news sites. Few allow the posting of news, information, community events or even letters to the editors. And blog sites are even more restricted. In short, rather than rejecting the “gatekeeper” role of traditional journalism, for now citizen journalists and bloggers appear for now to be recreating it in other places.

Do you see your blog as an end in itself? Do you welcome participation from others? How censored are your comments? Does this result in a better, more informative outcome than traditional media?

I admit to having had occasions where I felt a comment was just too hateful to allow out of moderation. While it makes me feel better not to have hateful screeds on my blog, I do wonder if perhaps we as a citizen media have a greater obligation to allow free discourse.

I know I have a tendency to avoid blogs which don’t allow comments, even if I have no intention do so. The idea that someone would immediately disqualify input from others is just off-putting.

From the overview

The reality, increasingly, appears more complex. Looking closely, a clear case for democratization is harder to make. Even with so many new sources, more people now consume what old media newsrooms produce, particularly from print, than before. Online, for instance, the top 10 news Web sites, drawing mostly from old brands, are more of an oligarchy, commanding a larger share of audience, than in the legacy media. The verdict on citizen media for now suggests limitations. And research shows blogs and public affairs Web sites attract a smaller audience than expected and are produced by people with even more elite backgrounds than journalists.2

{(2)Hindman, Matthew, 2007, “Political Accountability and the Web’s Missing Middle,”[..]Hindman’s research also establishes a stronger pedigree in terms of elite education and advanced post- graduate degrees for the top bloggers than for the country’s leading op-ed columnists.}

I do not know the educational background of some the new ‘columnists’ at the NP, however, their extremist actions and Anne Coulterish tirades would suggest that perhaps the MSM or at least the NP has jumped the shark. Certainly far more sensible and informative voices can be found in the “blogosphere”.

Perhaps they are merely a year behind in adopting this concept

Many news outlets are moving toward becoming more niche brands in their coverage and appeal. With fundamentals shifting, we sense the news business entering a new phase heading into 2007—a phase of more limited ambition. Rather than try to manage decline, many news organizations have taken the next step of starting to redefine their appeal and their purpose based on diminished capacity. Increasingly outlets are looking for “brand” or “franchise” areas of coverage to build audience around. For some, the new brand is what Wall Street calls “hyper localism” (consider the end of foreign bureaus at the Boston Globe or the narrowing of the coverage area at the Atlanta Journal Constitution). For others, it is personality and opinion (note the rising ratings of Lou Dobbs or Keith Olbermann). For still others it is personal involvement (the brand of Anderson Cooper, and, more tentatively and occasionally, even broadcast network anchors). For an emerging cohort of Web sites it is the involvement of everyday people (some alternative news sites now come closer than ever to the promise of authentic citizen media). In a sense all news organizations are becoming more niche players, basing their appeal less on how they cover the news and more on what they cover. The consequences of this narrowing of focus involve more risk than we sense the business has considered. Concepts like hyper localism, pursued in the most literal sense, can be marketing speak for simply doing less. Branding can also be a mask for bias

{emphasis mine}

In both the piece linked above and this piece the authors mention the emphasis on local news. Blogging offers a unique ability to provide local news and yet most bloggers seem to concentrate on national or international news.

Does this mean that the MSM is out of touch with it’s readership? or that bloggers are? Or are bloggers filling a void that the MSM has created?

I have no tie up to this post, rather I hope that it will inspire discussion. Please feel free to offer your opinion….

Filed Under: Blogging Tagged With: american journalism, bloggers, canadian journalism, citizen input, citizen journalists, mainstream media, traditional journalism

Happy IWD

03/08/2008 by Debra

Because women’s work is never done and is underpaid or unpaid or boring or repetitious and we’re the first to get fired and what we look like is more important than what we do and if we get raped it’s our fault and if we get beaten we must have provoked it and if we raise our voices we’re nagging bitches and if we enjoy sex we’re nymphos and if we don’t we’re frigid and if we love women it’s because we can’t get a “real” man and if we ask our doctor too many questions we’re neurotic and/or pushy and if we expect childcare we’re selfish and if we stand up for our rights we’re aggressive and “unfeminine” and if we don’t we’re typical weak females and if we want to get married we’re out to trap a man and if we don’t we’re unnatural and because we still can’t get an adequate safe contraceptive but men can walk on the moon and if we can’t cope or don’t want a pregnancy we’re made to feel guilty about abortion and…for lots of other reasons we are part of the women’s liberation movement. ~Author unknown, quoted in The Torch, 14 September 1987

Happy happy to my sisters. You know who you are.

    Those of you getting all serious about little things like your right to personal autonomy.
    Those of you who don’t know of any or how to contact female journalists — BTW a happy IWD to Heather and Antonia *waves*.
    Those of you who don your BnR ninja suits and take off to all corners to harass hapless male bloggers who are, ya know, just trying to make use of their poli sci textbooks.
    Those of you fighting against violence, rallying for peace, health care the environment.
    Those of you living the issues that some think are hypothetical debate topics.
    Those of you who knew about, contributed to and spoke of organizations like RAWA before they were used as a partisan cause de celebre.
    Those of you who have worked tirelessly on these and many other issues. Who continue to march and write and advocate and support and provide and raise families and care for partners and parents and work (for lower wages) and get slammed repeatedly by those who couldn’t take on half your efforts.

You inspire me with your words, humble me with your abilities, encourage me with your friendship and amaze me with your strength.

I raise a toast to you and all the other women struggling to be heard, seen, appreciated and validated today.

The words of another inspiring woman;

Filed Under: feminism Tagged With: abortion, bloggers, bnr, female journalists, IWD, ninja suits, personal autonomy, poli sci, wages

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