Pistol-gate a positive development for the D&C
Some readers — per the comments in my last post — seem to think the D&C has egg on its face over the pistol-gate brouhaha (whererin Congressman Randy Kuhl spoke of “packing” in order to ward off peace protesters), but I have just the opposite view. Those pieces Tom Tobin and James Lawrence wrote about the controversy aren’t going to be nominated for Pulitzer prizes, to be sure, but overall I think the whole kerfuffle is good for the paper. First of all, pistol-packing Congressmen is just the kind of thing that sells papers. If you don’t believe me, ask Rupert Murdoch (we can probably expect to see these kinds of stories on the front page of the Wall Street Journal any day now, albeit only if the Congressmen in questions are Democrats). But more importantly, I think this, in its own strange way, is good journalism.
You know how the public thinks of these meetings between candidates between editorial boards and politicians: as a bunch of old men blowing smoke up each others’ behinds while knocking back a few highballs. I’m not saying that’s accurate, but that’s the perception.
But now, with the citizen members of the board and the power of the blogosphere, you’ve got an exciting new element. Now, when the politician busts out some crazy talk about packing heat around the office, instead of it getting chuckled away amidst back slaps, it ends up on a blog where people like us pick it up and milk it for a seemingly endless series of posts.
As ridiculous as it seems, this is what transparency is all about. Next time the paper interviews some old crank who’s running for town supervisor somewhere, instead of thinking “I’ll bet this guy brought up his nutty theory about the fake moon landing, but they’re not telling us about it”, I’ll think “I bet he didn’t say anything too loony ’cause if he had, someone would have put it on the editorial blog.” To me, this represents real progress and a new level of trust.
For my money, pistol-gate is the first interesting thing that’s ever happened on the D&C editorial blog. Let’s hope it’s not the last.
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Gosh, what would happen if they videotaped the interview and posted the whole thing on one of those new-fangled video sites? Then we’d have some real transparency. But that’s “video”. They’re “print”. Never twain shall meet.
But then they’d have to figure out how to embed the video. Given the troubles they’ve had with hyperlinks, that’s probably asking too much.
Exile says:
I don’t read the D&C editorial blogs, and if this is the first interesting thing that’s ever happened there, then I’m glad I don’t read them. From what I’ve seen of Tom Tobin posted here on RT, I would vote for them taking away his blogging license.
But as far as hoping for more interesting things … I would have to modify that hope and say: I hope for more interesting things, where they condemn thuggish behavior that ought to be condemned, instead of supporting that behavior. If they continue on the present path, they may become more interesting, in the same way that Fox News is more interesting, and that is not something I hope for.
You think Tobin is bad….Lawrence makes Tobin sound like Josh Marshall.
I’ll let you read Lawrence and if there’s anything worthwhile or anything laughable, I’m sure you will bring it to our attention. I’ll read Josh Marshall…
TPM makes me feel like a small-minded provincial. Maybe I am.