The Fine Art of Navel Gazing. A Blogger Blogs About Journalists Reporting on Other Journalists Who Write About Bloggers Reported on by Other Journalists Who Refer to Bloggers.
2 04 2009Now you’re going to have to follow this carefully. So shake out your arms, rub your palms together briskly, and focus carefully. OK…
The Anchorage Daily Newsreader has linked to the Alaska Dispatch, which has written a news article based on an anonymous blog comment in response to an article in the Anchorage Press about the anonymous nature of Mudflats!
And the topic of the article based on the anonymous commenter? The fact that I, me, Mudflats happen to be married to someone who is an officer of Alaskans for Truth. (Gasp!) The allegations are that Mudflats is a sleazy propaganda tool, designed and created to funnel gobs of questionable cash to this Political Action Committee to use for God knows what nefarious purpose. Could be a big news story. Sounds positively….scandalous! If there was only some way of knowing…some way to tell if this is true or not.
Well, actually, there is. It’s called public records. Of course all the donations for Alaskans for Truth are public information. They’re kind of sticklers about that. And anybody at any time can check, without much investigation, whether this is true or not. It’s not. But of course, you can check it out any time you like at the Alaska Public Offices Commission.
Journalists across the board are all a-flutter and discussing the anonymity of bloggers, and whether people should be anonymous, or have the right to be anonymous, and what that all means and on and on. And bloggers are all a-flutter too. I can understand in these times of change and upheaval for journalists that there are feelings of fear or anger or uncertainty. Newspapers are shrinking, or going out of business, and suffering mightily these days. That’s scary for everybody, even bloggers who are, after all, ordinary citizens who decide to put diaries online, and often cite news sources, linking back so readers can follow up there. What does it mean? We don’t know. And therein lies the big uncertainty, and the reason that journalists and bloggers are wrangling around trying to find out where they fit in this brave new world.
I wrote a piece a while ago entitled I’m Not Going to Be a Journalist and You Can’t Make Me. Not That There’s Anything Wrong With That. And it pretty much sums up how I feel. There are some problems these days with journalists. And there are some problems with bloggers. As we are launched into this new era of “what the heck is going on” news/commentary/opinion/entertainment, the intelligence of the reader will have to come into play. We are going to have to rely on people to check links and sources, to use their common sense, to decide for themselves whether they think a certain blogger, or a certain journalist or a certain blogger-journalist hybrid has credibility.
I know what you’re thinking, and yes…that’s a lot to expect of people, and relying on the insight, wisdom, and discriminatory powers of the individual citizen to ensure that our press is free, open and full of journalistic integrity may mean that we’re in deep trouble. I don’t dispute that.
And it may be that newspapers, those comforting things we snuggle up with over morning coffee, that we can actually hold in our hands, are about to evolve into something else, and we have no idea what it’s going to be. I’m reminded of that old saying that when the caterpillar thought it was the end of the world, it became a butterfly. Maybe that’s just my optimistic nature.
People hunger for news. And they hunger for opinion. And they like to laugh, and argue, and debate. And it’s all part of the information deluge that has happened thanks to the internet. We’ve been hit with a new medium that has and will continue to mean huge changes for us as a society, and a species. Instant communication, and online materials ranging from pornography to philosophy are at our fingertips, and anyone anywhere (even you!) can tap into that great seething mass of communication and create your own blog in about 5 minutes.
Blogging won’t be stopped. The marketplace of ideas has been part of human longing since the beginning of intelligent discussion. We just can’t get enough of it, and now we are at the helm with the power of words as our tiller.
No longer confined to coffee shops, town squares, living rooms, dormitories, and other places where thinking people gather, the meeting place for discussion can now be anywhere, any time, instantly. In my ideal world, this place is big enough for all of us. People with no credibility will be marginalized. People who have it will survive. It’s the free market at work.
How will this all pan out? We have no idea. But I offer this suggestion….an old Zen saying, which has a perfect double meaning:
Leap, and the ‘net’ will appear.
So, I’m taking this all in stride. Trust me when I tell you there are things I’d much rather be talking about than the navel gazing about blogging. So, I’m going to try to get back to doing what I usually do, and hope that as all of us – writers, readers, journalists, bloggers, and hybrids alike, squirm around each other and try to find a comfortable spot, that we remember that we all share many things. We love words, we love ideas, we love the first amendment, and we’re all on the same ride into the unknown.
In my perfect world, we’re all one big mass media family. Newspapers link to blogs, blogs link to traditional media sources, we share ideas and information, our kids play soccer together, and we hold hands as we leap into the ‘net’. But, then again, I’ve been accused of being a Pollyanna. But I can hope, right?
Now, you can ruminate about all that over time, because the crazy ride we’re on never really ends. It just evolves.
Now, back to our regularly scheduled blogging.
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News just in that the tanks at Chevron’s Drift River facility will be drained starting on Saturday! Now that’s something to write about.
April 2nd, 2009 at 9:25 PM
I take a pause……..Another pause………have I been taken for a ride?
What is Alaskan for truth?……What is Anonymous Bloggers? Well, those are people taking action to decisively better their communities….. and they can be linked to the mudflats………(sigh in relief!).
No, I have not been taken for a ride, I have been stirring my net search in the right direction! (smile).
Blog on sister! (my wish for a T-shirt).
April 2nd, 2009 at 10:05 PM
My suggestion for the T-shirt caption is from Andrew Halcro’s take on AKM’ right to privacy. IMHO is the best post about bloggers and their readers. A good show of solidarity, also, too!
http://www.andrewhalcro.com/outing_mudflats_the_dirty_martini_philosophy
April 2nd, 2009 at 10:44 PM
Bravo AKM from a lurker in Australia – I must admit I came here as SP’s attempt to be VP hit the world headlines. I’ve called in again regularly to see what’s happening in a very interesting part of the world which I guess I won’t ever visit (more’s the pity). The writing is good, the accounts of politics Alaska style sometimes baffling but it reminds me of a particular era some decades ago in Australian politics. If only we’d had intelligent and courageous blogs then……… I will keep returning to see how various issues progress and to witness a fascinating evolving community which has overall a good and healthy tone to it.
April 2nd, 2009 at 10:59 PM
#30 – @crystalwolf aka caligrl:
“I think there is evidence in her Rant that she knew about this.”
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Yes, absolutely, I’ve thought that from the first I heard it. She KNEW.
April 2nd, 2009 at 11:06 PM
GREAT! So let us get back to work (although I will indulge in navel gazing in my blog – for once – from a german vantage point tomorrow, but then back to the actual job).
April 2nd, 2009 at 11:15 PM
#40 austintx Says:
April 2nd, 2009 at 6:41 PM
“The judge assigned is out of Alaska and is named Russel Holland. He is best known for being the judge in the case on the Exxon Valdez oil spill and was appointed by Ronald Reagan.”
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I’ve met Holland. Don’t know him, but certainly wouldn’t make any assumptions. This could work out better than anyone expects.
April 2nd, 2009 at 11:37 PM
Well. I guess I’m a bit naive and a bit thick because I can’t see why it’s such a big deal that AKM’s spouse is a member of Alaskans for Truth. You mean, AKM is married to someone who holds similar political beliefs as does she? You don’t say. That would be like being aghast that Michele Bachmann is married to a wingnut ultra-Christian clinical therapist who works for an ultra-conservative college (no dancing) and who is virulently anti-gay.
liberalinthelandofconservative.blogspot.com/2007/11/marcus-bachmann-seeks-qualified-servant.html
Yes, I am picking on my very own wingnut because I am pushed past the point of reason on her. She is vile.
Anyway, I thought my local paper had fallen into decline (StarTrib) and so had the local “alternative paper” (City Pages). They can’t hold a candle to the chicanery perpetrated by the Alaskan papers.
April 3rd, 2009 at 12:04 AM
AKM- I read this earlier…first at mudflats…cuz a poster expressed surprise that there was some connection to “ALASKANS FOR TRUTH”. Hell, I wasn’t surprised…maybe cuz during the campaign I was like a sponge looking for ANY info about this new-found “STAR” of the GOP (i.e. yes, ms sarah, herself)), I read anything and everything coming out of Alaska at the time. So, during that time I did read some on Alaskans for Truth….maybe even linked to by someone here, I dunno. Makes no difference to me. And ,now, I read suddenly this is news that there MAY be a connection and some people are concerned about this? My reaction is….where have you been and what is wrong with this picture??? I continue to read mudflats for info (and entertainment) and will continue to do so. Suddenly because mr doodoo head chose to out AKM, you are a different person? I think not…I think AKM has and will always be a voice in the wilderness of alaska politics, no matter what “associations” she/he/it may have.
Again, thank you, AKM…for your bravery, your honesty, and your integrity.
April 3rd, 2009 at 12:36 AM
AKM: “…and relying on the insight, wisdom, and discriminatory powers of the individual citizen to ensure that our press is free, open and full of journalistic integrity may mean that we’re in deep trouble. I don’t dispute that.”
Actually, I think that it’s exactly the powers of the individual citizen multiplied by millions of citizens in this country and globally that ensure that our press is free, open, and full of journalistic integrity. The problems come when the decisions and format of news gathering and presentation are left exclusively to small groups of people in news rooms or government offices with specific agendas and biases.
This is best seen in countries without a free press. It’s the “plebeian” citizens who sometimes risk their lives and livelihoods by having their satellite dishes on their roofs for internet and foreign broadcasts or their radios tuned to the outside world. In Iran, for example, the police routinely sweep neighborhoods and remove satellite dishes and, by night fall, the dishes are back up.
I will not dispute that a certain percentage of the population will seek out news sources, blogs, etc. which support their world-view, even if that view is distorted by myths, inaccuracies, “-isms” (racism, ethnocentrism, elitism), religious dogma, conservative dogma, liberal dogma etc. This “tribalism” behavior goes way back into the anthropological history of humans and will not disappear any time soon.
However, there are also people who have curious, open, flexible minds who surf out of their tribal areas and sample the offerings of other viewpoints without feeling threatened. This curiosity and cross-over behavior allows for testing and re-testing their interpretation of the facts and their own world view. Whether they retain or discard part or all of the new viewpoints is not as important as just being exposed to other views. Lest you think I’m just talking in vague generalities, consider the example of the increasing Westernization of even very remote places. I’m not saying this is “good” or any other particular judgment but rather that it’s an empiric phenomenon that occurs when people step out of their tribes.
The more individual citizens who surf out of their tribal comfort zones, the less constrained “the news” is by small controlling groups with specific agendas, biases, (and propaganda)…..freer, more open….The world has never seen such an exchange of ideas, facts, and feelings on this scale before.
April 3rd, 2009 at 1:44 AM
asiangrrlMNNo Gravatar Says:
April 2nd, 2009 at 11:37 PM
Well. I guess I’m a bit naive and a bit thick because I can’t see why it’s such a big deal that AKM’s spouse is a member of Alaskans for Truth. You mean, AKM is married to someone who holds similar political beliefs as does she?
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Exactly. As far as I am concerned, it is a question of putting words into action or your money where your mouth is. My respect and admiration for AKM and spouse only increased at this news.
April 3rd, 2009 at 2:02 AM
” We hold these truths to be self-evident. . .”
Would you really choose a relationship with someone whose value system was at odds with yours? And it is our value system that dictate the ethics we cherish, the ideal outcomes we strive to reach. . .why would anyone want to share their life with someone at odds with the core of who they are? So it makes sense (and none of my business actually) that AKM and spouse share a value system. Enough disclosure. Enough. JUst know that this community is here because we share similar values and outlooks.
April 3rd, 2009 at 3:00 AM
56yukonbushgrma Says:
April 2nd, 2009 at 11:15 PM
#40 austintx Says:
April 2nd, 2009 at 6:41 PM
“The judge assigned is out of Alaska and is named Russel Holland. He is best known for being the judge in the case on the Exxon Valdez oil spill and was appointed by Ronald Reagan.”
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No assumption here. As I noted , that was a statement from the article. Besides the germane subject matter , the judge caught my eye , and I wanted to share.
April 3rd, 2009 at 3:24 AM
GASP! I had NO idea you had any interest in politics at all. Would have never known it from the blog posts… have I been hoodwinked? Is this blog in secret code? And married to someone who cares about politics? Outrage!
As for bloggers commenting on journalists who talk to bloggers for comments on blogs about blogstuff they wrote or read or considered publically or annonomously as bloggers…
I lost my thought
April 3rd, 2009 at 4:10 AM
#62 austintx:
Yup, understood. Looks like a pretty interesting case, and I hope I can find out later what happens …
Nice of you to post the info!
April 3rd, 2009 at 4:46 AM
I’ll gladly hold your hand AKM and those of all mudpups, lets leap!
April 3rd, 2009 at 4:52 AM
what Lee said, lol………let’s explore the world, universe and beyond, together.
April 3rd, 2009 at 5:57 AM
AKM!! Wonderfully written – I love your style. Also, you make your point while taking the high road while so many others take the low. Bravo and thanks yet again.
April 3rd, 2009 at 9:52 AM
I am beyond shocked that someone who pays enough attention to write about politics might be married to someone else who cares enough to do something about politics. I mean, what are the odds they would find each other in Alaska? It must be some kind of plot.
If have a blog and link to my husband’s favorite cat charity, and encourage donations, that is networking, not “funnelling” money.
April 3rd, 2009 at 9:55 AM
AKM, a bit O/T, but: What have you decided to do about doodoo? I hope you will go forward with the lawsuit!
(*IMAGINE* the audacity of AKM being involved with Alaskans for Truth… LOL! Definitely better than being involved with the sedition party, right?!)
April 3rd, 2009 at 10:10 AM
AustinTX, I read the AZ article you posted and am disgusted–looks like more abuse of power–kind of like the Ramparts cops in LA. Hope they have a good internal investigation of that AZ dept. (And I figured you were a male well before Mr-Drunk-Email-guy blew his lid.)
April 3rd, 2009 at 10:34 AM
You want to find truth on an Alaska blog?
Come to my blog, then. Every statement on it is true, except for those that are blatant mistakes and the ones that I just make up, because it suits me. It’s my blog, and I can do whatever I damn well please with it.
wasillaalaskaby300.squarespace.com
April 3rd, 2009 at 10:49 AM
Dear Ms. Mudflats,
I don’t read anonymous blogs. Never have, never will. I am not interested in hearing anything anyone has to say if they are not willing to stand behind what they say. If they are not willing to potentially suffer the consequences of what they write.
But since Doogan “outed” you and revealed your name I started to read your blog. Now that you are on record I’m in. And may I say I have enjoyed it immensely. Your writing is compelling but you already knew that.
I doubt I will agree with much of what you write, but you should take comfort in the fact that you are reaching someone who does not hold your world view but is willing to listen to the other side of the story. I assume preaching to the choir is not why you make the sacrifice you do to put together such a labor intensive, quality web page.
Your newest fan,
Dan Fagan
April 3rd, 2009 at 1:47 PM
Comment #66 Say NO to Palin in Politics Says:
April 3rd, 2009 at 4:52 AM
what Lee said, lol………let’s explore the world, universe and beyond, together
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Take a look at commenter #71…..get ready to hold hands, gal.
April 3rd, 2009 at 6:19 PM
Why would Sarah Palin’s office contact People magazine with a statement that accuses Levi of lies and exagerations in his Tyra interview when only little snippets have been released.? To accuse someone of lying before you know what they are going to say is a sure sign that Sarah is very afraid of what Levi knows, and what Levi is going to share.
April 3rd, 2009 at 10:50 PM
Maryland High Court Joins Growing Consensus Protecting Anonymous Speech Online
FTA: “With this ruling, Maryland joins the growing consensus among federal and state courts in other jurisdictions that would-be plaintiffs must make at least a substantial legal and factual showing that his/her claim has merit before a court will unmask an anonymous or pseudonymous Internet speaker.”
http://www.citmedialaw.org/blog/2009/maryland-high-court-joins-growing-consensus-protecting-anonymous-speech-online
April 3rd, 2009 at 11:21 PM
75NYHawk Says:
April 3rd, 2009 at 10:50 PM
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Excellent link.
You should pass it on to ADN, Sheila Toomey, and Doogan. Hopefully, it will send chills down their collective spines…..(or at least down that part of their anatomy where spines are normally located. )
April 4th, 2009 at 4:47 AM
Stevens was friggin convicted. Palin is a shill for oil and wants to continue to be and AKM just does a citizen blog.
Do we want NORMAL people to lose their voices and possibly their jobs for posting their views on the NET? Why would anyone that believes in the Constitution back that view? Jefferson did not and had a nom de plume…ie he had a fake name (actually many) that he PUBLISHED his views with..
April 4th, 2009 at 5:02 AM
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April 4th, 2009 at 2:19 PM
Well, it beats actually having to go out and do some real reporting…that’s, to quote our (thankfully) ex-president, “hard work!!”