Roberta Biros of Mercer County Conservatives recently sent an email to 3 of her local state representatives about some technical provision of a bill related to tolling of I-80. None of them answered her email which didn't surprise her but one of them sent her a letter saying he wouldn't answer her email because she is a political blogger and asked that she no longer contact him via his official email address. Dick Stevenson is the Republican State Representative for the 8th District in the PA House.
This guy just doesn't get it. If one of the local papers in the area asked him the same question I would wager that he would respond even though they also write about politics. Bloggers are part of the media now and will be even more important as newspapers across the country continue to fail. Her question was not about politics but policy.
I don't usually email our local Luzerne County tribunes of the people but when I do I usually get a response no matter what the subject.
Political blogging is a double edged sword; on the one hand, a blogger can freely express his/her views on a number of subjects, but on the other hand, unlike the mainstream media, there is absolutely no accountablity, except at the blogger's own discretion. The majority of blogs are indeed opinion columns and should not be confused with the impartial reporting of mainstream newspapers (to your credit, Gort, you are impartial).
ReplyDeleteGort is reasonably fair, but by no means impartial - impartiality in reporting is fiction. That is not a criticism because bias is unavoidable - the simple act of selecting the story to be covered is a demonstration of bias. I'm much more likely to choose to comment on a story about a Democrat's policy failure or a Republican's failure to follow conservative principles because that is what I am interested in.
ReplyDeleteIt's not wrong to have a bias. The error comes from trying to pretend there is no bias. The best we can hope for is full disclosure of a point of view.
Speaking of impartiality, any posts coming on this story Gort? - http://www.wowowow.com/politics/what-did-she-know-about-interrogations-nancy-pelosi-defensive-278525
As an example of bias related to this story, Politico chooses to focus on the partisan nature of this story rather than the question of fact - "What did Pelosi know and when did she know it?" http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0409/21724.html
Re: Mr. Madera: If only all political junkies had your point of view. I am sick and tired of Conservatives continually whining about the Liberal media (particularly MSNBC) and Liberals whining about FOX News. So,let's get the record straight: FOX is the Republican network and NBC is the Democrat network. So, please, all you pundits from Rush to Olbermann, talk issues and stop whining about the other guy.
ReplyDeleteThanks Dave and 7:20.
ReplyDeleteI always strive to be fair but I do have my POV like anyone else.