Democratic Conversation

The blogosphere has become a powerful entity to an information-hungry citizenship across the world. While in the West we may feel news-and-information saturated, most of the rest of the world—nearer to 70%—do not have the right to criticize their government leaders, nor have free press rights, which again mean no rights to criticize the government and, perhaps worse, must publish whatever the government asks without the news org. commenting on the information’s veracity, civic value, or just plain propaganda aims.

Blogs—and the Internet in general, today—have not come by this power in any de-facto manner. Two important instances illustrate its ability to cover journalistic stories where mainstream media sources (CNN, TIME, WALL STREET JOURNAL, NEW YORK TIMES, to name a few iconic examples) have either ignored the story out of news-cycle considerations or simply thought there was no story there. The first example is the story of a liberal blog, Talking Points Memo, and how Josh Marshall, its founder and blogger, kept the story of Sen. Trent Lott’s racist, segregationist mindset at Sen. Strom Thurman’s 100th birthday celebration. Within two weeks, Lott found himself having to resign as Republican Majority Leader because Marshall’s readers and fellow bloggers kept the story alive. The second example is the story of a conservative blog, Powerline, that dug deeper into the CBS News story fronted by Dan Rather regarding then Air Force Reserve pilot George W. Bush’s service record. It was discovered subsequently, with help from fellow bloggers, Powerline sources, their initiative, and their knowledge, that the documents presented by CBS and Rather as evidence of Bush’s “rigged” service records to be totally without merit.

While the blogosphere has achieved other notable coups in journalism—and garnered much-needed integrity for achieving these—most bloggers are commentators. I am a commentator, and essayist, on a variety of subjects, politics being just one subject for which I happen to have an interest. I used to work for a newspaper, but as a features writer, not a reporter. In other words, I wrote light-to-heavy “people” stories highlighting the gifted, famous, entrepreneurial, spirited, activist, volunteering, and even heroic, people who lived within our readership area. I was not a reporter, and told all these people so by using a moniker I enjoy: “I’m a storyteller.” That’s what helped me get some really amazing stories about everyday people doing extra ordinary things (and please don’t conflate this term into a super-hero definition).

The point is, news, features, and commentary all serve the public. And blogs today serve the wider world at large. Remember that the vast majority of the world’s citizens have little or no access to (or in some cases rights to read) quality news information and world-perspective commentary. This is particularly so regarding Web content, as can be seen in Google’s pitiful knuckle-under job when aligning itself with China’s leadership more than with the integrity of information freeflow. It’s a shame to point out then, that perhaps many bloggers use their Web-stump to bitch or moan, or to convert an ax to grind into vituperation sessions, instead of adding to public discourse. Yet those well-written and thoughtful commentary blogs that exist (you have to look for them) give people a voice previously available only to journalism insiders who had worked through the ranks from cub reporter to national beat assignment heavies. Naturally, the op-ed section of newspapers did reserve space for the public to write in their thoughts. Often these pieces were well written, thought-provoking responses to what the writer had read in the newspaper.

This brings up another problem with the blogosphere: the regurgitation of information. Most blogs are holding cells that link to regional, national, or international news sources: “You can get the full story here” the tag line usually reads, with “here” highlighted in blue or at least underlined to indicate where to click for the link. In fact, this is how Josh Marshall’s “Talking Points Memo” operates. I’m not sure if I’ve ever read something on his site longer than 250 words. And here’s a guy who used to be a reporter! As for the other mentioned conservative blog, Powerline, the same service applies—200-300 word info-snacks that direct you to other, mainstream sources. What’s going on here?

This presents a separate problem within the blogosphere, or perhaps I should say for the information/commentary searching public. People are going to get bored with the 3-sentence comment on a news story followed by its link to the story itself—a story born from the hard work of some reporter(s) who has “worked” the story from its inception (often a question in the reporter’s mind, or asked by the news editor), to interviewing sources, to writing the piece, to fact checking, to editorial inspection, and finally publication. What’s the blogger’s role in this? Not, much, as you can see. Perhaps we can clap that the story spread beyond the newspaper’s print and/or online edition. Hip-hip, uh….hurray?
I see the need for a change in the blogosphere. So soon? You ask. It’s practically just got started! All the more important for this change to occur before it collapses under its collective weight of redundancy. For blogs that claim to—and strive for—journalistic value, they need to find stories of local and national interest. For blogs that comment on news (but also culture, art, literature, cinema, etcetera), bloggers need to write essays. No, not the 5-paragraph essay taught in American high schools (or perhaps schools throughout the world): tell them what you’re going to tell them, tell them, and tell them what you just told them. This is shitty writing, unworthy of the time it took the blogger to produce it; powerfully unworthy of the reader’s time, who could be reading something of importance that has been written intelligently, clearly, and effectively. If you lose this reader, you will not get her back.

Blogs need good thinkers, quality writers, who are sensitive to language and the needs of a justified argument. This does not mean bloggers should stray from controversial subjects or the language required to make strong, effective points. Perhaps, then, the best bloggers will be the professional writers who eventually find their way to the Internet. Many already have, but not the best of them—other than their reprinted stories from national magazines, journals, or newspapers. They have real jobs that take their time away from other quality-of-life issues, like family, down-time, and me-time. This does not leave out the non-professional writers, however. In fact, this opens up possibilities. They have an opportunity to prove their stuff. It is in fact that simple.

The future of the blogosphere, I predict, is a move toward the long form. The essay. Web surfers, blog-surfers, may have a bit of ADD in them because they are always looking for something new. I find that in myself, too. I am also a reader—novels, reviews, history, essays, and news articles. But this “new” that Internet subscribers are looking for is and should be the essay: an extended written discourse on a single subject that delves into facts and presents a view based on thoughtful consideration, meaning of, and interpretation of those facts. Perhaps then we can have some thoughtful discussion on the internet, rather than a lot of gotcha political maneuvering.

To learn more about the changes mainstream media are experiencing—including network news orgs. and newspapers—visit PBS’s FRONTLINE, which has just completed a four-part special on this subject. You can view the entire program here.