As the events of the past few weeks illustrate, new technology, online communities and blogs are playing an increasingly important role in the realms of politics and government.
In light of this, and to get a better sense of these relationships as they have developed over the past few years, I interviewed Michael Grass, founding editor of DCist, and one of the leaders bringing blogs inside the beltway.
Michael sees blogs playing a vital role in campaigning, as well as in citizen journalism. Here are his thoughts (some of the questions have been edited for clarity).
Political PR: As the presidential campaigns for 2008 are getting underway, do you think it is key for politicians to have their own bloggers on staff in order to reach progressive voters on the Internet? Do you these efforts could be seen as just another manipulative campaign tactic?
Michael Grass: Bloggers are a critical piece of outreach for campaigns. They were in 2004, again last year, and will
grow more important in 2008. Netroots outreach is important for two reasons. First and foremost, blogger campaign outreach is critical for raising small-dollar donations. If there is more campaign finance reform (but I wouldn’t count on that until after 2008), there are likely to be more restrictions on large donations, so reaching a large number of smaller, individual donors will be very important. Howard Dean proved this in the race for the Democratic primary during 2004. In 2006, it’s pretty safe to assume that Jim Webb’s U.S. Senate race would not have gotten off the ground without the support of Democratic bloggers who paid attention to him and steered plenty of cash his way.
In terms of campaign blogging as a basic communications tool, it is also important, but there are some important things to note. Official campaign bloggers aren’t really doing anything revolutionary. They’re essentially serving as a distributor for official communications and talking points. They are part of the public relations machine. They’re a talking head in the most basic form. A campaign blogger will only be effective if they strategically mobilize the secondary layer of bloggers and their network of readers. Much of that is done behind the scenes and not visible to the public.
I don’t think voters will view campaign blogging as a manipulative campaign tactic. Campaign bloggers are essentially preaching to the choir. They might anger and stir up opponents, however.
PP: As we move forward, do you think we will see more conflicts of interest between bloggers and politicians?
MG: Yes and no. It’s much easier to make connections and find those conflicts of interest since public information is so much more accessible than it has been in the past. The Internet is self-correcting in its own Wild West type of way. People are learning where the boundaries are and are learning from the mistakes of others. In general, the rule of thumb is to be honest and transparent. Idealists might say that’s the way it’s supposed to be anyway. There will always be those who do try to mask themselves in the grey area, however.
PP: Do you think with several large scandals in the news (the Edwards bloggers, the Libby trial, revelations about distorted intelligence in Iraq, the administration manipulating reports on climate change) that the public will find it even more difficult to trust the information they receive from the media and politicians? Do you think that these stories are followed with the same interest outside of DC?
MG: I don’t think you can change the way the public perceives politicians and the media and if you can, it’s only on a case-by-case basis. There will always be distrust of both, no matter the goodwill and positive actions either takes. There is a disconnect between what’s important inside and outside the Beltway. As the November 2006 elections show, the public cares about Iraq. But if you examine polling data, the Libby trial doesn’t resonate the same way. At its core, the Libby trial is about perjury and is not a trial about the war in Iraq. The general public doesn’t know who I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby is. Even in Washington, most people aren’t following the details of the Libby trial. If Monica Lewinsky unmasked Valerie Plame’s identity to Robert Novak, that would be a story of great interest.
PP: Do you have any thoughts on the future of blogging? Especially since blogs are now being used as communications tools by big corporations, politicians and mainstream media? In the future, do you think blogs will be viewed with the same mistrust as more traditional media?
MG: Like any Internet trend, blogging will reach its saturation point. I can’t say this for sure, but I think blogging as a trend has already peaked, it’s moved into the mainstream and everyone now feels that they need to jump in to ride the wave. But the blogging swimming pool is now a mile wide and an inch deep and in many ways, the wave has passed them by. There is so much worthless chatter out there that it’s hard to find the worthwhile information or interesting angles on an issue. As things stand right now, so much of the same information is being recycled and various online players are essentially cannibalizing the other. I’m referring specifically to news or issues blogging. Coming across an original idea is wonderful, but much of blogging — specifically political blogging — is about jumping on an ideas bandwagon. Once enough people have done so, there is a critical mass and an idea/cause/etc. that might be on the fringe suddenly gets partial or full legitimacy.
Back in 2004 when I launched DCist.com, there wasn’t anything like it in D.C. It filled a void. It tied the then-small local blogging community together and provided a free-flowing forum for readers. It caught fire quickly. DCist did not build the strong D.C. blogging community, but it did become a gatekeeper for non-bloggers to interact with bloggers. So many other successful blogs have done that.
But a blogging newcomer could not replicate it under the current conditions.
Blogging is good for letting individual voices get out there, but there are few professional entities out there have figured out how to create that gatekeeper platform to bridge the gap. Many mainstream news sources are still wary about embracing random bloggers. I’m happy to be part of a news organization that isn’t afraid of the Wild Wild West of blog land.
It’s interesting. You’re seeing some of the early blogging leaders going mainstream, e.g. Gawker. On the flip side, you’re seeing so many news organizations launch blogs, for better or worse. So it seems there is a convergence of sorts. If anything, blogging has challenged the traditional news cycle. We’re seeing more and more frequency of news that isn’t governed by what’s in the morning paper.
But for others, there are a lot of risks. If you’re a corporation or even a mainstream media organization and are launching a blog for the sake of launching a blog, then it’s not going to be successful. It has to have a unique editorial niche. It needs a strategy to build readership. It needs to stand out. So many, frankly, don’t.
PP: How do you feel your history as a blogger may affect your career in the future, especially now that you are working for Express, a publication of a large mainstream media company? Can you see past posts haunting you?
MG: Not really. During my entire history with blogging, I have paired up basic journalism principles with my own style of contextual observational writing. Most of what I do is very well cited and stays away from opinion. Certainly, there are risks by putting your life out there. Sites such as MySpace/Facebook/etc. can pose a serious risk, as demonstrated here.
—–
I want to thank Michael for taking the time to answer my questions and using his experience as a blogger to shed some light on this new communications tool.
Michael is currently the editor of ReadExpress.com, a publication of The Washington Post and its free daily newspaper, Express. While working at Roll Call as an editor and writer, he launched DCist.com, the fifth of a global network of group-written city blogs published by Gothamist.com of New York City. He’s written for Crain’s Detroit Business and is featured in “Writing Ann Arbor,” a literary anthology published in 2005.
