DailyKos and the Future of Journalism

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday April 19, 2009 · 7:41 AM PDT

2009/04/19 · 07:41

On a mailing list on the future of journalism that I’m a member of, a person recently sent an email about this article on DailyKos about where people get their sources for diaries on DailyKos.

Kos notes that less than 20% of the primary sources are from newspapers. Other important sources include Advocacy organizations, Political trade press, Government, and campaigns. This seems to reinforce the idea of blogs, at least DailyKos is an echo chamber repeating what they’ve heard from groups trying to push out their message.

Another stereotype of bloggers is that many of them are people that sit at home typing on their computers, but don’t actually get out and do primary research or get involved in local politics. Aspects of this criticism comes out in the comments to Kos’ post.

Poll

31 votes Show Results

How often do you go to local meetings and report on them?

31 votes Vote Now!

How often do you go to local meetings and report on them?

Weekly

5 votes

Monthly

5 votes

Rarely

7 votes

Never

10 votes

Iâ€<sup>TM</sup>m an armchair critic and would rather eat pie

3 votes

Not often enough, and Iâ€<sup>TM</sup>m going to get off my butt and blog about local meetings.

1 vote

Obama’s War Criminal Cousin

aldon

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday November 01, 2008 · 5:28 PM PDT

2008/11/01 · 17:28

The latest breaking news in the U.S. Presidential campaign is that Sen. Barack Obama has an aunt living in the United States that may be here illegally. Zeituni Onyango, the half-sister of Obama's late father is reported to have been ordered to leave the country after her request for asylum had been denied.

Yet what is more significant is that Sen. Obama has a cousin on his mother’s side of the family that is an alleged war criminal. According to MSNBC, both Barack Obama and the alleged war criminal are related through Mareen Duvall who moved to Maryland from France without ever becoming a U.S. Citizen. According to a British Newspaper the shocking allegations that Sen. Obama’s cousin may be a war criminal came from none other than "Lawrence Wilkerson, who served as chief of staff to secretary of state Colin Powell from 2002 to 2005".

aldon

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday May 14, 2008 · 3:43 AM PDT

2008/05/14 · 03:43

Many of my online Obama supporters have been asking this question over the past few days, and I am sure are bound to be thinking this again today. Does Obama have a problem with poorer, less educated, white rural voters? What should be done?

Well, yesterday, I drove from Connecticut down to Virginia to pick up one of my daughters from college. I stopped in Martinsburg WV and spent a few hours canvassing for Obama. Martinsburg is in Berkeley County, part of the Washington DC exurbs. Obama did better in Berkeley County than just about any other county, with the exception of neighboring Jefferson County. Yet my experiences did not match those of the pundits.

I didn't see a poorer less educated rural white America. I saw a wild and wonder state that is part of the United States of America. To borrow the words from a famous speech,

aldon

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday January 24, 2008 · 4:50 PM PST

2008/01/24 · 16:50

I don’t like attack diaries, but today is too important a day and the emails I got today were too important to leave without highlighting them. I am on the Clinton and the Edwards mailing lists. Here is what I got from the two campaigns:

Chelsea Clinton wrote to say:

I love talking to people who are thinking about supporting my mom -- about why I believe in her and why I support her as a young American, a woman, and her daughter!

I also love talking to people who already support my mom's campaign. Every day, when people tell me they're voting for my mom, putting their faith in her, using their voice to encourage others to support her and working hard for her, I grow more proud.

I've been campaigning with her across the country -- and I'm definitely planning on being at the next debate. Would you like to join me? The campaign is picking an online supporter to watch the January 31 debate in Los Angeles with me and to meet my mom. I know she'll be thrilled to meet you -- she is so grateful for how much every supporter has done for her campaign.

aldon

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday January 11, 2008 · 6:16 AM PST

2008/01/11 · 06:16

Last night, I spent some time with Ned Lamont as he spoke to folks in Second Life. There were many supporters who showed up, people who had been moved by Ned’s campaign. As I reflected back on 2006, it struck me that perhaps we are undervaluing moral victories.

We all want to get agents of change elected. We may factor ‘electablity’ into our calculations. Clearly ‘electability’ is a factor, but people can make big changes without being elected.

Let’s take a couple of examples. Who do you think are the politicians that have had the biggest positive effect on our country?

aldon

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday January 06, 2008 · 8:59 AM PST

2008/01/06 · 08:59

Yet again, I'll step into my role as the old curmudgeon that has little use for the bickering little hit diaries that go back and forth here on DailyKos, or even for the campaign diaries pushing a particular candidates position on one issue or another. We need to get beyond the circle of DailyKos. We need to be in the streets.

The Obama campaign did a great job of getting people to the caucuses in Iowa. The Edwards campaign's message beat out the Clinton message, even though he was vastly outspent. What we need is everyone to step away from the computer, and get out and phonebank, canvas, do visibility or whatever else you can to get the best agent of change elected.

aldon

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday December 04, 2007 · 7:59 AM PST

2007/12/04 · 07:59

I hope, forty years from now, an opponent of Fiona’s in a Presidential primary, will look back at this blog post and prepare a press release stating, "AHA! I told you Fiona had been planning to run for President for years!". Yes, if you ask her, she wants to be President. She would sure do a better job than our current President, and she knows that.

I give a lot of credit to people like Howard Dean, John Edwards, and Barack Obama for returning the role of President to its proper place in the American dream. The Presidency should be an honorable office sought by people hoping to make our country better for everyone.

When Fiona isn’t dreaming of being a President or Congresswoman, she is dreaming of being a paleontologist, a marine biologist or a fashion designer. The dreams of childhood, we need people like John Edwards or Barack Obama to help make the American Dream and the dreams of childhood a little more realistic.

aldon

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday November 20, 2007 · 8:44 AM PST

2007/11/20 · 08:44

I must have Ronald Reagan on the brain recently. When I wrote about Elizabeth Edwards meeting with Bloggers in New Hampshire, I borrowed his line "Tear down this wall." This post borrows from Ronald Reagan’s famous advertisement, "It’s morning in America".

While I strongly disliked Ronald Reagan for many of his policies, I did admire his ability to communicate, and I’ve longed for better communicators and communications on the current political landscape.

aldon

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday November 18, 2007 · 4:41 PM PST

2007/11/18 · 16:41

This morning, Elizabeth Edwards spoke with a bunch of bloggers at St. Anselm College in Manchester, NH. I’ve just gotten back to Connecticut after driving up for the event. I hope to write a detailed report of the event later. However, she spent a bit of time answering a question that I asked her and I want to focus on that in particular.

I read a lot of blogs, especially those beyond the progressive political blogosphere. One great community of bloggers are the homeschooling bloggers. Various news reports that I’ve read of the Edwards campaign say that Elizabeth is homeschooling her two youngest children on the campaign trail. I wanted to hear what she had to say about it and what she and John were learning about education, should he become president.

My regular readers will know that I am an Edwards supporter. While my question wasn’t planted, it was a softball question that I hoped she would be able to hit out of the park. She did an even better job than I had hoped for.

aldon

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday November 07, 2007 · 3:11 AM PST

2007/11/07 · 03:11

I must admit that Glamour is not one of the magazines I regularly read. I dislike the role of being a thin sexy shopper that it seems to promote. It might be that there is something useful between the covers, but It isn’t a place I normally look for inspiration.

However, it is a place that many people look, and last night, I received an email about their Women of the Year.

aldon

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday November 05, 2007 · 4:40 PM PST

2007/11/05 · 16:40

Yesterday, we went to church. The first reading of the day was from Ecclesiasticus. It is that wonderful section that begins, "Let us now sing the praises of famous men." It talks about the great variety of famous men, leaders, musicians, writers, and others of home there is no memory. It is a great reading for the Sunday after All Saints Day; a reminder that we are all in this together, the rich and the forgotten.

It is also provided the title for James Agee and Walker Evans monumental book, "Let Us Now Praise Famous Men". That book was written about poverty in the south during the Great Depression. Now, over seventy years later, we have others to now praise famous men.

John Edwards, as part of his "American Heroes Week" spent last Saturday with a bunch of supporters helping rebuild home in New Orleans. We still have poverty in our country, and Hurricane Katrina briefly blew away the façade that had been hiding it.

aldon

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday October 31, 2007 · 6:17 AM PDT

2007/10/31 · 06:17

I wrote this for a different blog, with different demographics, but I believe that the message of the college application essay and the call to action that I’ve added on to it applies very well to the DailyKos community as we head into important elections next week.

According to Quantcast, my readers are ‘primarily older’. Many of you many not remember your college own application essays and may be more concerned about college application essays of your children.

I must admit, I don’t remember my college application essay, and I suspect I would be embarrassed to read what I wrote thirty years ago. There is a standard sort of question that typically gets asked, "Evaluate a significant experience, achievement, risk you have taken, or ethical dilemma you have faced and its impact on you." Perhaps this would be another good blog meme for people to explore.

Newer
Older

RSS

DailyKos and the Future of Journalism

Obama’s War Criminal Cousin

What's Wrong with West Virginia?

FISA: Clinton v. Edwards

Moral Victories

Don't just blog about it, do something!

Sen Clinton: Fiona is running for President

John Edwards: It’s Thanksgiving in America

Tear Down These Walls: Elizabeth Edwards Talks Education

Looking for Lilies: Politcs, Media and Role models

For All The Saints

"Democracy is a gift that Americans have inherited."