Tuesday, March 29, 2005

A Letter to The National Press Club
Sean-Paul over at The Agonist is politely asking The National Press Club to improve the quality of their Blogging and Journalism panel.
Members of The National Press Club,

We, the undersigned bloggers, are very concerned about how liberal political bloggers are being systematically under-represented and belittled in the mainstream media, academic settings and media forums. By being intentionally excluded away from these venues, we are effectively pushed out of the discourse of opinion-leaders. The result is that the conventional wisdom about blogging, politics and journalism, as it concerns liberal blogs, becomes a feedback loop framed by the Conservatives and their media allies.

Go read the whole letter and join in if you agree.

Personally, I'm less annoyed about this particular panel (with Gannon/Guckert representing which side, bloggers or journalists?) than I am about the general exclusion of liberal bloggers in general from press coverage. The representatives of news blogging in press stories and on these kinds of panels are too often established journalists who blog on the side, wingnuts, Glenn Reynolds, or Wonkette. And while Wonkette is an entertaining gossip columnist, she isn't a good representative of news blogging or the left.

Gentlebeings of the press, expand your sources! Hundreds of us would sell our little sisters for a chance to be a talking head. Some of us are even presentable.

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