Back in 2004, I was one of the bloggers credentialed to cover the Democratic National Convention in Boston, and was surprised to find how much we bloggers were part of the story. Some of that is because of the scripted nature of conventions with their outcomes already predefined. There wasn’t much for uncertainty, other than about the bloggers. There is much less certainty with the Libby trial, but still there are some interesting discussions of the role of bloggers.

Somehow, during the convention, these discussions seemed misplaced. Yet as I wander deeper into discussions about media reform, I am thinking that the meta-discussion about bloggers may be an important part of the story.

Yesterday, I wrote a blog post asking How should Media Bloggers cover the Libby Trial?. I received quite a few different replies.

One person wrote, “What I want is to have you tell me is what is happening, but in the larger context of your information and understanding.” As I’ve worked with NewsTrust, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the importance of context in good journalism. I wish more people would provide better context. I realize that traditional news reports might not have as much space for context, but bloggers can ramble on as long as they wish. I hope I will be able to provide helpful context, balancing it out with the ‘live blogging’ aspects.

Various people have suggested contexts that the story needs to be placed in. One person wrote, “The concentration of power by the Executive is the greatest danger to our country than all the terrorists combined.” Another said, “I look for insights as to why they lied to the American people? This is why we need transparency and, I think, to get corporate influences out of our government as best we can.” He went on to say, “In some respects, the Bush/Cheney regime is the revenge of the East India Trading Company we fought a revolution to be free of. Looks like we know have to fight to escape the tyranny of our home grown corporations who have morphed into multi-nationals”

Staying with the context idea, one person wrote, “I have to say a lot of the Libby live-blogging is borderline unusable. I don’t even understand the point of it. Why not collect oneself and try to tell us what happened without making us paw through a lot of meaningless procedure?” I remember at the Democratic Convention a feeling that here I was, in the moment, with a live Wifi connection; I need to write stuff as it happens. Yet I found that I prefer to soak in the experience, digest it a little before I spew something out.

David Weinberger writes about my post in terms of perspective, “What Aldon will blog is not reportage—in fact, it assumes good reporting is being done—but it’s also not mere opinion or editorial. It is perspective.” I like David’s perspective on this. I will be looking at this through my own set of filters and I hope that it adds a nuance to the discussion that would otherwise be missing.

Some of that nuance, I suspect, will have to do with media reform. Perhaps I can return the favor from the Democratic National Convention and write about traditional journalism as it deals with bloggers.

One group that is doing very interesting work with the changing media ecology is the Media Giraffe Project. They have focused on improving the dialog between the ‘new media’ and traditional media. They posted about my request on their forum. This has resulted with some good discussions with journalism professors and I hope will bring up some others.

In specific, I spoke about one of my goals in changing the media landscape of making news a much more interactive process. Sure, people can write letters to the editors of their local papers and hope the editor will chose to publish the letter, but how often do editors engage in a discussion about how they are or should be covering the news? Especially in these days of rapidly changing media ecology, we need more discussions like this. Such discussions are also critical to a vibrant democracy.

Needless to say, not all the comments have been friendly. One person, who is trying to protect “the world from the belligerently uninformed” talks about “Robert Cox’s right-wing Media Bloggers Association”. He goes on to ask, “Are you close friends with Bob Cox? Do you swallow his particular brand of right-wing insanity?”. I must admit, it is refreshing to be accused of being a right-winger. Usually, I get dismissed for being on the other end of the spectrum. To my friends in non-partisan organizations trying to achieve balance, feel free to use me as an example of a right-winger in your group.

Yes, I am going to reject the myth of objectivity and will be writing from a subjective perspective. My critic goes on to say that “If you’re the best and the brightest of the blogosphere, I’ll take the mainstream media any day.” I make no pretenses of being the best and the brightest, but I do suggest my critic should probably stay with the mainstream press telling him what he wants to hear.

Yet for those who want a vibrant discussion of how journalism should change, I hope the bloggers coverage of the Libby Trial will provide good material to work with.

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