Seattle Times editorial page editor and crown prince Ryan Blethen elaborates on his page’s surprising decision to endorse Rep. Dave Reichert’s opponents:
In the 8th Congressional District, Reichert has had six years to grow. He hasn’t. His being caught on tape glibly talking about taking votes for the environment so he could stay in office was not a great way to start off an election year. That gaffe was compounded by his voting against fiscal reform and showing up for his endorsement interview woefully unprepared and more defensive than I’ve ever seen a candidate.
The two candidates in the 8th we did endorse, Suzan DelBene and Tim Dillon, showed up prepared and were thoughtful in follow-up discussions.
I’m not sure I’ll ever grow tired of reading the Times hurl the same sort of criticisms at Reichert that I’ve been hurling for years, and of course I take great pride in knowing that it was leaked audio exclusively posted on HA that helped flip the Times’ assessment of the three-term Republican incumbent. But this is more than just a delicious “I told you so” moment, for my post, and the broader media coverage it generated, is a beautiful illustration of the sometimes under-appreciated role bloggers now play in the modern, news media food chain.
It is true that much of what I write is derivative, consisting of commentary, analysis and criticism of original reporting and commentary produced elsewhere, mostly from the legacy press; indeed, the first thing I do every morning is scan the Seattle Times for stuff to make fun of. But bloggers like me have also become an important source for “professional” journalists, sometimes in quantifiable ways like the Reichert audio story, but more often in the subtle, less obvious way we tend to steer coverage, create buzz and frame headlines.
Like most of my best scoops, the leaked Reichert audio simply fell into my lap, because my source trusted me to see it for what it truly was, and to frame it in the most damaging way possible, whereas they were concerned that the Times might dismiss it entirely as mere politics as usual. In this sense, my blatant partisanship proved to be a tremendous journalistic asset.
But because my partisanship is so blatant, once the story was out there, other journalists, including the Times’ editorialists, where free to consider it in its proper context, and make their own evaluation. In the end the audio, presented unedited and unexpurgated, speaks for itself, while Reichert’s history of making similar statements establishes that his self-professed cynicism was no slip of the tongue.
The Times recognized that this is information that voters deserve to know, and I have to give them credit for that. But it’s not clear that the Times ever would have recognized this had I not framed the audio in the manner I did at the time I broke the story.
And that gets to another under-appreciated aspect of what bloggers like me do, for the best of us display a talent for seeing in commodity facts a larger truth that sometimes escapes the first round of media coverage. The U.S. Attorney story is a shining example, a major scandal that might have eluded the legacy press had not Talking Points Memo connected the dots that everybody else missed, and then obsessively followed up. Likewise my Mike Brown Arabian Horse Association story, a post that ultimately helped frame FEMA’s failed response to Hurricane Katrina as a debacle of cronyism, leading to Brownie’s resignation, merely highlighted information that was already widely available on his official resume.
It’s not that newspaper and other legacy media reporters don’t engage in the same kind of conceptual journalism, it’s just that our freedom to be passionate, opinionated and yes, partisan, frees bloggers like me to pursue angles that would make other journalists uncomfortable. Plus the sheer number of us energetically plying our trade simply makes it that much harder for important news to escape scrutiny.
While there are some traditional journalists who still dismiss bloggers like me as parasites, the truth is that we’ve been gradually establishing a pretty symbiotic relationship… a relationship from which readers ultimately benefit.
‘Am I a media parasite?’ queefs Goldy….
Well, you’re not a member of the press, but you sure are a chronically unemployed parasite, yes. Just now figuring this out after all these years Goldy? Slow day for news….
So The Times round-filed your resume and application, and had a good chuckle. Get over it and move on already.
No, you’re a member of the professional left according to the White House and this Hill piece:
Here: http://thehill.com/homenews/ad.....ional-left
And I for one am thankful for it and what you do.
I agree with some of what you wrote Goldy, but I also have to caution you about the “other” side to partisan political blogging.
For instance, the Breitbart doctored video on Sharrod is an example of a partisan blogger whose story was rapidly picked up by the mainstream media and then led to the firing of Sherrod – but it was a complete lie.
So I agree that partisan blogging can be useful to bring out under-reported stories – but only if certain standards of journalistic integrity are also maintained.
That said, Reichert is finally being exposed for the shallow, cynical, liar that we knew he was all along. In fact, his voting record of deliberate flip-flops tdesigned to make him look good exposed him long ago. The fact that he was “unprepared” to give answers after how many years in office, shows how poor a legislator he really is and how little real knowledge or ideas he has.
correctnotright @3,
I would argue that Breitbart did what Breitbart does, and the “mainstream” media was negligent for not considering the video in that context. Breitbart is not a reliable source, and he provided heavily edited video. That’s simply not credible.
On the other hand, while I made my best effort to spin the leaked audio, I provided it unedited, in its entirety. I have a record of being honest, if partisan. My credibility is hard earned.
One of the problems faced by the mainstream media is that it also has a symbiotic relationship with politicians and other authority figures. The media needs their cooperation, and sometimes even their active support, to be able to cover stories. Likewise, the politicians and other authority figures expect to be repaid in a “scratch-my-back, I’ll scratch-yours” arrangment.
The clearest example is when the news media agrees to sit on a crime story for a few days in exchange for some sort of exclusive access to details shortly thereafter.
But in the broader sense, the media moguls know that they need cooperation from politicians in order to not only have access to decision-makers, but for the fundamentals of business (building permits, street newspaper vending machines, conflicts with unions, etc.). The politicians likewise know that an endorsement, or even decisions on whether or not to cover events or stories, can make or break a politician.
That’s where the bloggers come in – they can help keep the media honest by publishing stories which the media, for one reason or another, has decided to ignore. Eventually thse stories can take on a life on it’s own, or maybe not. But at least they don’t wither on the vine.
@4: goldy
I agree with what you wrote – but there is a danger to partisan blogging if credibility and honesty is lost.
Congratulation on walking that fine line of being partisan but also being honest with the facts. I also like that you are willing to correct mistakes. Breitbart is lying and hiding how he got the edited video and he pretended that the edited version was really what Sharrod was saying – and thereby slimed her – when, in fact, she was saying the complete opposite.
@4
And what’s funny is that Shepard Smith on Fox has some bit of journalistic ethics. Apparently he refused to run the Brietbart video on his show because he said that he didn’t trust the source. If only the rest of Fox news had the same sort of healthy skepticism.
Main stream journalists are couch poodles clad in dainty sweaters, bows in their hair, dashes of cologne masking their stench.
Bloggers are cattle dogs working the herd. Kicked in the head, stepped on and charged, but always ready to go at it again.
Speaking of video, the Seattle Times hasn’t posted video of their WA-8 editorial board interviews, have they.
Hmmm.
Re 8
Except that in mainstream media some limited acountability is still present.
Goldy, Huffington Post and their equivalents on the right have no such accountability. They can say whatever they like and their faithful believe it implicitly.
Goldy seems to care about facts, if he slants them outrageously, often leaving important information out. But the ‘blogosphere’ as a whole is little more than a coffe klache of gossipy old women. Comparing them to real journalists is simply silly.
Lost @ 10: It’s getting harder and harder to find a “real journalist” these days. The media just won’t pay for it. My sister is in the industry, and she complains about it often. What’s left is the camera-friendly “spokes-model” who breathlessly delivers a short nub of a story, or print media re-printing AP stories without any editing, or simply copying and pasting from a news release from a company or a candidate.
Bravo Goldy!
oh, and fuck Dave Reichert. The faster he vacates my district’s Congressional seat the better.
Republicans have a method of injecting partisan items into the mainstream media too. But anyone but a Republican calls it lying. And any five-year-old would tell you that it’s the wrong thing to do.
nevercorrectfullynotbright@3 farts
Since FDL and Mediaite disagree with you where did you get “this information”? The video wasn’t doctored and it was from someone at the GA NAACP.
Try again fool!
“Since FDL and Mediaite disagree with you”
Bullshit. He’d offer a link, but it’d only prove he’s a liar.
Why do you lie so much, Puddy? Can’t you make a point without lying?
Yeah Odumba appears to meet his long time buds at NutRoots and there’s James Rucker from Color of Change giving Odumba the latest on his continual thoughts on Glenn Beck.
H I L A R I O U S!
No one on Fox News ran the video until she was fired. CNN ran it. BSNBC ran it. ABC ran it.
Rant on HA libtardo fools. FDL and Mediaite make you all look (well you are) stupid!
The WA Po ran this – just ask ylb to replay links…”After a news meeting Monday afternoon, an e-mail directive was sent to the news staff in which Fox Senior Vice President Michael Clemente said: “Let’s take our time and get the facts straight on this story. Can we get confirmation and comments from Sherrod before going on-air. Let’s make sure we do this right.””
@4 “I would argue that and the “mainstream” media was negligent for not considering the video in that context.”
I would argue that Breitbart did what Breitbart does, Fox News did what Fox News does, and that the NAACP and the Obama administration were both foolishly negligent in this matter. What Breitbart and Fox did was no surprise. Was anybody surprised? The actions of the NAACP and the administration were a gut hit. I mean, WTF??
You know Steve Steve Steve, Puddy offered the link three times. Some of the leftist pinheads actually commented on it. You can ask ylb for veracity.
If you are too stupid to read and remember, then you are too stupid to read and remember!
@14: What planet are you opn Puddy? It was clearly cut to make Sharrod sound as if she was saying something completely OPPOSITE whart she really said.
Breitbart
@14: What planet are you opn Puddy? It was clearly cut to make Sharrod sound as if she was saying something completely OPPOSITE whart she really said.
Breitbart
Puddy says:
Yup – it was Fox Nation and then the next day Fox news went on and on about the “racist” Sherrod and applauded the firing.
Freaking idiot hypocrites – you rightwing hacks have an excuse for everything.
Bottom line: Faux news, Breitbart and Puddy are liars and have no credibility.
http://mediamatters.org/research/201007220004
Puddy – I would not even call you a pinhead – that would be too much of a compliment. Y’all don’t have a brain to work with – wow, you are the definition of STOOPID.
I also love how you parroted the rightwing racist line that the NAACP audience “applauded” Sherrod – here is Saletan compeltely debunking that LIE that you also propogated.
http://www.slate.com/id/2261552
In the bible, people who deliberately spread false rumors are stoned to death. Maybe you need extra bong hits from Lee to get you to respiratory failure (just kidding Lee).
Is goldy a media parasite?
no, he is a media wannabe.