I have to admit, I don't plan to spend too much time watching this week's Democratic National Convention on TV. Maybe I am getting jaded in my old age, but it seems slightly too staged to take seriously, at least in its prepackaged, made-for-TV format.
Of course, that isn't to say nothing is going on. Fortunately, this year there is an alternative view of convention happenings: blogs, or Web logs. The Democratic National Committee has given press credentials to the crème de la crème of Democratic blog sites. Selection for these slots was extremely competitive; of more than 200 blog sites that applied, only 34 were given the green light by the DNC.
One of the chosen few is a UT student-run blog called "The Burnt Orange Report: News, Politics and Fun From Deep in the Heart of Texas" at www.burntorangereport.com.
I spoke with Byron Lamasters, UT student and co-founder of the blog, by phone just minutes after he picked up his press pass in Boston. When I asked him what his plan was, he said, "I am trying to cover as many aspects of the convention as possible, especially the parts that the mainstream media won't pick up on." More specifically, he told me he has been trying to get a grasp of the demonstrations that are happening outside of the Fleet Center, as well as what security precautions are being taken.
Karl-Thomas Musselman, also a UT student and regular contributor to The Burnt Orange Report, is at the convention, but he doesn't need a press pass to get in. Musselman is an elected delegate. When I asked him how he planned to wear both hats, he said, "First and foremost my job is going to be a delegate. As a result, all of the experiences I am going to be writing will be about what it is like to be a first-time delegate who will provide perspective for people who have never been through this before."
Musselman also highlighted his unique perspective because of his age; at just 19, he is Texas' youngest delegate. He explained that he would be able to report "how is the party reacting to youth and how things are being catered to the new generation." Lamasters, 22, is one of the youngest bloggers to gain access to the convention. He said his student status made him especially in-tune with student issues such as tuition deregulation. He plans to use the opportunity, time permitting, to talk with, and subsequently report on, students from other states to see how they are dealing with rising tuition, as well as other matters of interest to students.
Even though the DNC cherry-picked the bloggers that were granted access, both Lamasters and Musselman thought one of the best things about the medium of blogging is its independence. As Musselman put it, "[We] don't have to be fair and balanced. We can be critical; we can have our own viewpoint."
Another benefit of blogging, according to Lamasters, is "tt allows regular voters to be in touch with the campaign and feel like they are a part of it. They can in real time communicate with the campaign, and the campaign can communicate with them."
He believes that part of the Howard Dean fund-raising success is related to blogging, because it allowed Dean's supporters to feel like a direct part of the campaign. This is also true about the way news is distributed. At the end of our phone call, Lamasters encouraged readers to post convention related questions for him on his blog, saying he would do his best to get them answered. If one writes in to a major network or paper, what are the chances of an e-mail being read, much less being responded to?
No one knows what effect, if any, blogs will have on convention journalism. But keep your wi-fi card on for what might be some of the most interesting stories of the convention.
Gladney-Lemon is a women's and gender studies graduate student, a member of Alliance for a Feminist Option, a graduate representative to Student Government and a member of the Graduate Student Assembly.
Be the first to comment on this article!