Arianna and Friends in Portland
I’m here, bloggers. I’ve been in Portland, Ore., since last Thursday, attending the annual convention of the Association of Alternative Newspapers. More about that later. I went to a panel discussion led by three behemoth bloggers and/or journalists: Arianna Huffington, Matt Taibbi, and Jane Hamsher.
Of the three, I would highly recommend Taibbi, a political editor for Rolling Stone who made his name with deeply insightful (and hysterically funny) coverage of the 2004 Bush/Kerry presidential race. Not to mention that Taibbi came off with a couple of ounces of humility about himself and his work, which honestly, the other two did not.
Anyway, the topic was how bloggers and other alternative media might bring a little Tabasco to the 2008 presidential election. I asked the three of them a question about Mitt Romney and that Mormon thing. I told the crowd that here in Utah, mainstream reporters have lost all bladder control about Mitt and the possibility that a guy who spent six minutes in our state might become president (yeah, when H-E-double hockey sticks freezes over). I mentioned how his Mormonism crops up in every story, from Newsweek to The Salt Lake Tribune, and did these experts think religion would play a big role in the upcoming race?
Hamsher pushed her bangs out of her eyes a couple of times and said she isn’t interested in religion in politics and that a person’s faith shouldn’t matter. Huffington encouraged all the altie journalists at the convention to take up that topic in their own papers. Taibbi appeared to want to weigh in, but didn’t get a chance before the next question.
What I found most intriguing, what actually bugged me, was Huffington’s description of a new feature she’ll be offering soon on The Huffington Post. Teaming with New York University journalism professor and blogger Jay Rosen, Huffington will start “Off The Bus” on her site in mid-July. The plan is to round up 100 or so bloggers around the country who can post comments and coverage of the presidential race from a fresh (that is to say non-mainstream media) perspective. “Off The Bus,” as opposed to the official “On The Bus” press corps of the major outlets who get spoonfed everything from campaign operatives, get it?
It’s a great idea, and worthy. And I expect if it’s done well, if the goal is for the “uncovered” story, it will take some interviews and leg work from the bloggers. So here’s the part that bugs me: Huffington was quite clear and proud of the fact that these “citizen bloggers” will get no financial compensation for their efforts. None. See, the way she explained it is it’s a privilege to be part of this big electronic neighborhood and that writers like Jamie Lee Curtis and Nora Ephron, who contribute regularly to The Huffington Post, don’t do it for the money anyway. Well of course not. But if the Off The Bus crew is supposed to be average citizens, doesn’t that mean people like your kid’s third grade teacher, your grocery store checker and the guy who comes to fix your plugged-up sink?
Hey, Arianna! How about walking the walk of the good leftie who talks the need to raise the minimum wage and health care for all and throwing these folks $50 a post? Or $100?
She’s a multi-millionaire, after all, with best-selling books, assorted talk show appearances and a wildly successful blog. Honestly, it just seemed a bit hypocritical to me. If you ask me, it’s downright mainstream newspaper mentality — asking for more but paying less (or in this case, nothing at all).
I’ll post some impressions of the beautiful city of Portland later, including my thoughts — and I hope yours, too — on what Salt Lake City could do to poach a little piece of that grand city to make ours more livable.
June 18th, 2007 at 10:13 pm
I understand where you are coming from on the issue of payment for the bloggers, but I don’t think she’ll have any trouble getting a hundred or so bloggers to write for free. Most of us don’t get paid a dime anyway. I started blogging a couple of years ago because 1. I found that many events/issues/viewpoints that I felt were important weren’t covered by the mainstream press here in Utah and 2. I’m very opinionated and it’s a great way to let it all out.
It would be great to see Huffington get more progressive on this issue though.
June 19th, 2007 at 1:02 am
Articles about Romney and Mormonism are getting very repetitive and predictable, and probably pretty boring to those familiar with the LDS church. But I won’t be surprised to see the issue keep coming up, as there is no shortage of mormophobic writers to write another piece filled with ‘relevant’ positing about critical issues like polygamy, mind control from the church office building, and the Mountain Meadows massacre.
There is one positive thing about it, though–it’s probably the first time in a couple of decades that some elements of the secular left and religious right have agreed on something.
June 19th, 2007 at 8:16 am
Regarding Mitt Romney, I think Groucho Marx said it best, “Those are my principles, and if you don’t like them… well, I have others.” Character has nothing to do with religion. There is no correlation between the two. Witness the child abuse of the clerics of the Catholic church.
Former California Governor Jerry Brown said that a teacher’s reward is not monetary but rather a “Psychic Reward”. In his next election I sent him a check for 1,000 units of Psychic Reward to run his campaign on.
June 19th, 2007 at 8:28 am
Portland has a long and colorful history of liberalism. Two of my favorites are Louise Bryant and John Reed, both were in Russia for the Bolshevik takeover and Mr.Reed was befriended by Lenin and Trosky. He is the only American buried next to the Kremlin Wall.
Louise Bryant had Emma Goldman as her mentor….I think “Red Emma” is a good template for a distaff American prez. None of this Bill/Hill nonsense. Want a really strong leader ?
Portland is graced with natural beauty. The confluence of the Columbia and Willamette. Mt. Hood as a sentinel back ground, extensive green belts and CLEAN air to enjoy. Salt Lake ? ozone in the summer, pariculate soot in the winter and a downtown seemingly designed by Albert Speer.
June 19th, 2007 at 9:39 am
Just an add-on comment to chardonnay’s. Portland IS a beautiful place to live. Having been a long time resident of Salt Lake and now relocated in the Willamette Valley, I can say as far as city living goes, Portland is a top pick. Great mass transit system too.
June 19th, 2007 at 9:46 am
Alas, need spell-check. Particulate and Trotsky ( aka Lev Bronstein ).
June 19th, 2007 at 10:41 am
Regarding the no pay for blogging, greenjenni called it right. A. Huffington will have no trouble getting people to get off the bus and blog for free. But I don’t think I misunderstood Huff when she said they will be seeking “reporting” from around the country on the presidential race. Reporting is a skill that takes practice and even a bit of education. Truth is, on this blog I rarely report anything anymore because I don’t have full time for it and I don’t get paid for my efforts. If The Huffington Post simply wants opinion and colorful writing, she’ll get it in spades for free.
But then this is one of the big debates about “serious” journalism and blogging. With the exception of a few dedicated sites (Politico.com being one of my favorites), scant few bloggers are doing research and reporting. Including myself.In that sense, the mainstream media still come out on top for the most part.
June 19th, 2007 at 12:38 pm
hey don’t run any stop signs on your bike while you are there. my daughter just did that and got a $250 fine.
enjoy powell’s and jakes: try the steamers.
July 2nd, 2007 at 3:25 pm
Save your efforts to Salt Lake to mimic Portland, Holly. SLC just doesn’t have the raw material to work with to even slightly resemble that fine city - outside of sort of copying the name of the lightrail system.