Some blogging business

Steve Clemons at the Washington Note posted a complaint a day or so ago about how bloggers who have joined in telephone conference calls with politicians are sometimes "in bed" with the politicians. He says they should be less partisan and that they are violating some ethical norms in political reporting by being partisan.

Now, I have not been invited to participate in any blogger conference calls with any politicians. Given the limited amount of traffic this site generates, I'm not likely to be. But, frankly, I see nothing wrong with the bloggers who participate in these calls being partisan. I think it mis-perceives the function many of us believe we are engaged in.

I certainly do not think of Scatablog as "journalism" in the usual sense of that word. Instead, as anyone who reads it can tell, we are openly partisan.

The purpose of this blog, as I see it, is a) to bring to the attention of my readers as many stories of the outrageous activities of this administration as possible in the hopes that they will, thereby, be better armed to argue the case against the administration among their friends and associates, b) to offer occasional commentary on the news that may be enlightening, or perhaps amusing, to some readers, and c) to occasionally offer suggestions to whomever listens on how to better frame the progressive message. I see nothing wrong with this, and I certainly don't consider myself to be "violating" any "ethical norms."

Moreover, most of the political blogs I read (see left hand column of this blog) seem to be trying to do exactly what I am trying to do -- though many do it far better. I don't consider them to be violating any ethical norms either. In fact, I believe they have done more to help progressives frame their message than all the main stream media pundits combined.

As one of Clemons readers writes:

However, as an activist, I DO have a common interest in helping frame issues for candidates via my blog. I DO have a common interest in helping the party I support get their message out. Why? Because I want to help them win. My agenda is absolutely clear to everyone who stops by my site and should be clear to everyone who's ever met me.

There is no blurring of the lines there. I am openly partisan. Why is that wrong? How is my participation in conference calls unethical in any way? I wonder if Steve C thinks that people like me should be dis-invited from these calls.

We are not all journalists and our blogs are not all newspapers in the traditional sense. I don't feel compelled to comment on stories about corrupt Democrats (though I sometimes do), and I don't feel compelled to comment on stories painting Bush in a good light (if there are any). My choice of items to comment upon is certainly not random and is certainly not intended to be "fair and balanced." On the other hand, I do feel obliged to accurately report whatever facts I include in the blog and to indentify my sources as fully as possible, usually through hyperlinks to them. Failure to do that would I think be a violation of blogger ethics. Beyond that, my opinions are my opinions. People are free to agree or disagree with them.