If the mainstream press thinks that bloggers will go away, they are sadly mistak

[Guest guest]

" xmjmac " <XMJMac

Sun, 11 Jun 2006 17:07:27 -0000

[Air_America_Radio] My Latest Piece on Blogging

 

 

 

 

 

 

If the mainstream press thinks that bloggers will go away, they are

sadly mistaken.

 

By Mary MacElveen

 

When the mainstream press often lets the reader down, it is the

blogger that fills the void. I would even go as far to state that

bloggers (those of us who write for Internet sites) are the equivalent

of the modern day Paul Reveres. As Senator Harry Reid stated " I know

fighters when I see them. You're fighters, " He stated this in his key

note speech at the YearlyKos Convention of Internet bloggers in Las

Vegas.

 

 

 

Although, I would say to Senator Reid that we are fighters since we

see this republic being handed over to a group of powerful and

dangerous people. Someone has to put up a fight when we see no real

fighting coming from Washington, D.C. Yes, there are some, but not

nearly enough.

 

 

 

For the most part those of us who write for Internet sites do not get

paid, but we do this out of a labor of love and love of country.

There are mainstream columnists who spread a message of hate as in Ann

Coulter and make millions doing so. To counter what she and other

hate-mongers have written it has become our mission in life. Instead

of using hate, we use reason. Instead of using inflammatory remarks

that do nothing to help us as a nation, we ask the tough questions not

being asked by mainstream writers.

 

 

 

Will the senate try and block Americans from reading our articles as

COPE (Communications Opportunity, Promotion, and Enhancement Act of

2006) makes its way to that governmental chamber? Will the free-flow

of ideas be stomped on? Should this bill pass it will endanger

people's access to the Internet. Basically, it will be corporate

controlled with different pricing levels of what you can view on it.

Depending upon the price plan you can afford, that will determine what

information is accessible to you. That is my understanding of this

bill and one that I would say that the mainstream press is banking on.

 

 

 

But what the mainstream print medium fails to realize is that they are

going the way of the dinosaur. With circulation down, sales falling

they will at some point become extinct. I know this for a fact since

my brother in-law who works for a major newspaper as their vice

president just recently laid off hundreds of workers this past year

because of falling sales. By the way, this newspaper is owned by

Times/Mirror that owns several other major newspapers.

 

 

 

Senator Reid also stated of the Iraq War " The White House

cherry-picked and politicized intelligence to sell the war, " he then

went onto add " All of us as Americans need to know if we were

intentionally misled, I think we were, to go to war in Iraq, so we can

make sure it never, never happens again. " As a writer, I am tired of

such pabulum terms such as `mislead'. Why not use the term lied? For

years those of us who write for Internet sites have been bold enough

to call a spade a spade. As one reads various letters to the editors

in several newspapers, our term `lied' is being used more than `misled'.

 

 

 

Ann Reinhart, 45, a writer from Los Angeles stated " People are finding

their voice. People are doing it themselves. " Isn't finding ones own

voice the true American way? Yes, those of us that write for the

Internet are doing for ourselves when we see so much being left out in

the reporting by the main stream press. Someone has to do it.

 

 

 

I wish that I could be as optimistic when Reid stated " Because of you,

no attack will go unanswered, " and " Because of you, no lie will avoid

the truth. " Many within the alternative press community have called

into question the duplicitous actions of the United States government,

only to see it continue. I think the reason why we are doing it

ourselves as Ann Reinhart stated is that " we do not see any help

coming from Washington, D.C. " to borrow a phrase from George W. Bush.

 

As reported by USA Today " Republican party spokesman Tucker Bounds

characterized the convention as proof that " the squeaky wheels, no

matter how wobbly, gets all the Democrats' oil. " To counter Bounds

assertion, Internet writers have often questioned the leadership of

both parties. In a past piece and in relation to the Iraq War, I did

write a scathing article concerning Senator Hillary Clinton. So, I

was not aligning myself with the Democratic Party as I wrote that

piece. A few fellow Democrats asked me not to publish this article,

but in the interest of objectivity, I felt the need to speak out. I

did so in order to be fair and balanced. Fox News should do the same.

 

P.Z. Myers, 49, a University of Minnesota biology professor from

Morris, Minn., had this to say of blogging " It's more than people just

sitting and chatting over the wires. " I would say that assertion is

correct. A while back, a man living in Japan asked for my permission

to translate a previous VHeadline.com piece into Japanese. I gave him

my permission. When I asked why, he told me that he wished to

circulate that article to a political group in Japan. He was kind

enough to send me a hard copy of that translated article. I must say

that it was strange to see ones words in written in a different language.

 

As a writer, journalist, blogger, whatever, I have been able to cross

the great divide so to speak and reach out through the mainstream

press when a local newspaper has published several of my works. In

those works, I was able to report what was not being written of. I

felt the need to fill that void.

 

If you truly want to see the power of the Internet, one only has to

look at Governor Howard Dean's bid to become the president of the

United States when he used this medium to garner grass roots support.

Millions of dollars were raised for his candidacy through donations

as little as $5 dollars. Now it seems that many others including Ken

Mehlman the chair of the Republican Party saw the power in this and

are now using it. What a copy cat!

 

Lastly, those that write for Internet sites are doing an invaluable

service to all. After all, we are the last bastion of true freedom of

the press and true freedom of speech. We do not have corporate heads

dictating to us what we can and cannot write about. The editor of

VHeadline.com, Roy Carson has never censored me. The same goes for

Geoff Staples of RadioLeft.com and Lori Price who runs Citizens for

Legitimate Government. Those of us who write for various Internet

sites put our ideas out there to balance the mainstream media. We do

so in hopes that you the reader will use this information when

speaking with those that normally do not read articles on the Internet.

 

If the mainstream press thinks that bloggers will go away, they are

sadly mistaken.

 

This column is dedicated to all the brave Internet writers out there

who are willing to go that extra mile.

 

http://blog.radioleft.com/blog/MaryMacElveen/_archives/2006/6/11/2023999.html