Page 70 - Battleground The Media Volume 1 and 2

Blogosphere: Pol t cs and Internet Journal sm |

commentaries, seem an affront to good journalism, debasing an entire profes-
sion simply by their proximity. Buried in an avalanche of blogs, these people
fear, audiences may no longer recognize “good” journalism when they see it.
Therefore, they either attack the blogs as a whole or try to find a way of channel-
ing them into a more traditional framework.
Another criticism of the blogs is that they are available to only one side of
the digital divide. That is, because they require the use of technology both for
participation and for reading, they are open only to those with access gener-
ally associated with a certain degree of wealth. Liberal bloggers came under
criticism in September 2006 when a meeting was arranged between a group
of them and former President Bill Clinton in his offices in Harlem, an histori-
cally African American neighborhood in New York City. The bloggers who at-
tended were all white and middle class, pointing out the fact that the blogs
have become a forum for few from minority communities and even fewer from
amongst the poor.

a BLogging suCCEss
One of the most significant aspects of the blogs is their ability to keep alive (or
even bring alive) a story that the commercial news media have overlooked. The
first of these to have a significant political result was sparked by the comments
of Trent Lott at a celebration of the 100th birthday of former “Dixicrat” Strom
Thurmond. Lott’s comments were seen by many bloggers as having distinct rac-
ist overtones—and they refused to let the matter die, though it remained unre-
ported by most of the news media.
Because of other connections between Lott and questionable organizations
and stances concerning race, many of them brought to light and mentioned re-
peatedly by bloggers, the commercial news media did eventually begin to cover
the story. No matter how much Lott tried to quell it, the controversy contin-
ued to grow, to the point where President Bush felt he needed to comment on
it, chastising Lott. Soon thereafter, Lott resigned his position in the Republican
leadership as Senate majority leader and the outrage died down.

a Blog tiMeline

February 1978—The first Bulletin Board System (BBS) is established: the Computerized
Bulletin Board System of Chicago.
1978—CompuServe begins first real-time chat.
1985—The WELL, one of the first significant dial-up BBSs, goes online.
1994—First Web logs appear.
April 1999—Peter Merholz coins the word “blog.”
May 2002—Daily Kos, the largest political blog, is founded.
December 2002—Mississippi Senator Trent Lott’s possibly racist comments on retiring
Senator Strom Thurmond are publicized by bloggers, forcing his eventual resignation
as Senate Majority Leader.