Friday, October 05, 2007

Well, why don't I post it?

First of all, we like NECN. They have us on air pretty frequently.

My impression is that they hadn't really thought through the policy all that well, and in the few minutes between when Ogonowski introduced himself to us (gamely, we thought) and the start of the debate, they felt they had to agree.

What if Hub Politics or Peter Porcupine were along? Would we all go? Would we stay? Hrmm...

I really don't blame NECN for this. Ogo's people starting huffing and puffing about our being in the studio at about 6:58, with the show going live at 7. They had to make a snap decision, and rather than have angry Ogo staffers getting in their face with the show about to start, they asked us to leave, and we complied. NECN has generally been very welcoming to bloggers of all political stripes, and I appreciate that.

Hmm. I don't know how I feel about this. On the one hand, I think it was silly of Jim's campaign. On the other hand, if Niki Tsongas were uncomfortable with the fact that a bunch of conservative bloggers were in the room, ones who had endorsed her Republican opponent and were attacking her on their Web site, she would probably ask to have them removed. And I bet NECN would correctly obliged.

The debate isn't about the bloggers ... it is about the candidates. While BMG bloggers can be considered "media," they can't be considered "non-partisan media." They are partisan media and, therefore, shouldn't be considered as random observers to the debate. Were the Globe editors at the debate or reporters? I bet it was reporters. You guys shouldn't be crying.

I'm shocked that NECN allowed all the independent candidates into the debate considering they have a long sordid history of keeping them OUT of their debates!

Oh, we're not crying. We're laughing. I thought it was one of the funniest spectacles I've seen in a while -- staffers of a campaign for the U.S. Congress all upset about a couple of local bloggers sitting in the same room as the debate??!! Haven't they got anything more important to worry about? I cannot for the life of me imagine why they cared so much.

<i>I cannot for the life of me imagine why they cared so much.</i>

Eh, maybe because you didn't belong there with reporters?

I think eury13 made a really excellent point that this is less a question of whether NECN did the right or wrong thing, or whether Ogo's team was wrong to ask them to leave. (I wish html were allowed... here's the link: http://www.bluemassgroup.com/showComment.do?commentId=92045)

Just *who are* these bloggers? And if NECN would allow Charley and David into the room next time after more thought, would they then allow me to enter because I regularly comment over at BMG? Probably not, but then I'm not an Editor of a major blog, an "elite blogger," or whatever else you might call somebody in Charley, David or Bob's position. To me, that David and Charley seem to have such an excellent relationship with NECN is extremely funny and interesting given that blogs are mostly a direct opposing alternative to major media outlets.

Hrm, "direct opposing alternative"? I definitely think not. Anyone who imagines that we can do without a professional media is dreaming. Yes we do media criticism, yes we do *some* original reporting; but like everyone else in a free society, we're completely dependent on the pros. We want them to do a good and thorough job.

I don't believe in the MSM-vs.-blogs adversarial thing. Count me out of that particular pissing match.

Sigh.

Nobody ever asks me ANYWHERE.

David, Charley - I would have been HAPPY to show up and intimidate The Widow Tsongas with my Vulcan-like eyebrow abilities, which are FAR more distressing to those on the air than you with your giggling and keyboard tapping.

Next time, bring me along. We can either all live-blog together, or be thrown out like the blogging wanna-be scum we are and go get drunk and make fun of Jim Braude.