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October 29, 2006
The Scoop!
 |
| The Enterprise Record is working on a story
on political blogs in Chico. I was interviewed by Sarah Kingsbury over
the phone last weekend, and today (Sunday) Ty Barbour came by my house
to take
a photo. The story is supposed to run on Monday. I'm actually writing this blog as I'm waiting for Ty to show, and the picture I'll be posting will be (is) of Ty taking the photo of me for the print edition. As far as I know Alan (Dog's Breakfast) and Dan (Bullfight) were also interviewed. I assume some others have been talked to as well. The main thrust of the interview was "do local blogs mirror the national political blog scene as far as ranting and raving goes". So here's my prequel to the ER story on the blogs. And my take on the stuff I said during the interview. In other words I'm scooping the ER. Are Norcal Blogs Influential? I think Norcal blogs are read by a subset of people that read the letters-to-the-editor. These are people that follow local issues, and are sometimes decision makers. I'm pretty sure all candidates check them from time-to-time. I really have no idea how many people read them regularly. What Kind of Political Blog Generates Interest? Local controversies are the topics that generate responses, and since we're in the election season taking a side is likely to create the most interest. See Dan's "developer slate", or my "conservation voters" as examples of posts that generate responses. Standing smack dab in the middle of an election (ideologically speaking) is not an interesting place for readers. Do Local Political Blogs Mirror the National Scene, or Talk Radio? I don't think so. But I don't read national blogs, or listen to talk radio. In fact I only check the national news once or twice a week. National politics used to be very interesting to me, but now it bores me. I think local blogs just take the opinions of a few people that might be interested in speaking out on local issues and amplifys them. The fact that we can post what we want, when we want, gives us a leg up on the "official" press. Will Local Blogs Influence the Election? The vast majority of people pay no attention to politics or specific items of debate. They just go vote the party line. Local blogs may influence some attention given to certain topics. I can't imagine that local blogs do anything more than provide a little "color commentary" on the local goings-on. Sometimes we break a little news, other times we add opinion to what's already being discussed. But in the end we're just a bunch of dorks on our computers. The important people will be listed on the ballots on November 7th. If you want to use your computer to learn about them go to North State Votes and listen to the people that are running for office. Oh...one last thing, vote for Bertagna, Dailey, Herbert, and Sorensen on November 7th. |
Posted by Lon at October 29, 2006 05:04 PM