Blog Power, from John Conyers:

[babylonsister]

http://www.conyersblog.us/archives/00000402.htm

Blog Power

There is an interesting confluence of events right now that highlight the growing effectiveness of our progressive online efforts. Markos of DailyKos.com and Jerome of MyDD.com just published a book on the growing influence of the netroots in democratic politics. I haven't read it yet, and I understand it includes some pointed criticisms, but what can't be denied is the profound impact blog sites such as theirs have had in 1) covering news ignored elsewhere, 2) reaching out to networks of grassroots activists, and 3) providing valuable analysis of mainstream media coverage.

Today, as Rusty highlights in the previous thread, Jane Hamsher at Firedoglake.com has considered the increased attention on the censure option and has noted a change in the way the press covers the warrantless wiretapping from, it was a "national security matter" to "the President broke the law." If this is as widespread as she suggests, it is a dramatic development. Liberal media and blog sites such as MediaMatters.com, CrooksAndLiars.com and Firedoglake.com provide valuable resources for media monitoring that simply never existed before.

The netroots have come to the fore in Congress as we will soon be considering legislation, HR 1606, to protect the freedom of bloggers to play an unfettered role in online politics. What blogs represent is the democratization of both news and politics. Where we have traditionally relied upon centralized, national infrastructures to coordinate media coverage of political activity, the internet and blogs in particular have empowered anyone with fresh ideas and a will to make a difference.

I will be supporting HR 1606 when it comes to the floor for a vote on Thursday because I have the highest regard for ordinary citizens who love this country enough to become civicly minded. Thanks to the internet and blogs, the communities in which these people may now become active are national in scope.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. Protecting bloggers is very important

as more and more people decide the only place to get information is the Internet. In the coming years, I see it as the place where everyone will get everything they need in terms of news and entertainment.

[babylonsister]

2. Yes, as long as the government doesn't extend its tentacles

to quash info, and I'm afraid that could happen.

[welshTerrier2]

3. "the most vital news source in America"

one thing most Americans value is Freedom of Speech ... we may not like what is said; we may vehemently disagree with the opinions others are peddling; but, in the end, we have no freedom if we are not free to float our little boats in the public waterways ...

people who think that writing in the public arena is not "real political work" just don't understand the power that the online community, even in its infancy, already wields ...

Ms. Huffington hit the nail on the head in the following article:

source: http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0314-28.htm

Now the Little Guy is the True Pit Bull of Journalism
The blogosphere's ability to include the whole planet in an immediate dialogue makes it the US's most vital news source.

I am frequently asked if the rise of the blogosphere is the death knell for Big Media. My answer is that Big Media isn't dead; it's critically ill but will actually be saved by the transfusion of passion and immediacy of the blogging revolution. Blogging and the new media are transforming the way news and information are disseminated, as evidenced by the number of traditional media outlets, like this one, dipping their collective toe into the blog pond. <skip>

Blogging has empowered the little guy - levelling the playing field between the media haves and the media have-only-a-laptop-and-an-internet connection. It's made the blogosphere an invaluable tool for holding the mainstream media's feet to the fire. As blogger extraordinaire Glenn Reynolds (aka Instapundit) puts it in his new book, An Army of Davids: "Where before journalists and pundits could offer illogical analysis or cite 'facts' that were in fact false, now the Sunday morning op-eds have already been dissected on Saturday night, within hours of their appearing on newspapers' websites."

Bloggers have done the same with politicians. Witness Trent Lott and the way bloggers turned him from Senate majority leader into political chum by pursuing a story the mainstream media passed on. That's another great thing about bloggers: when they decide that something matters, they refuse to let go. They're the true pit bulls of reporting.

That kind of relentlessness was never available to me as a newspaper columnist. <skip>

Bloggers share their work, argue with each other and add to a story dialectically. It's why the blogosphere is now the most vital news source in America.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

4. recommended and

kick it up DU:kick: