Blog-volution in South Dakota
A friend who was trying to get to those websites that continuously touch on SD issues had asked for my recommendation as to which blogs were worth reading for their coverage of South Dakota issues. I provided those recommendations. But I also pointed out something I’ve noticed in the past 6 months – that South Dakota blog coverage seems to be evolving.
At one time, coordination of media efforts between groups of blogs used to be commonplace on both the left and the right to bring a story to the mainstream media’s attention. Anymore, I just don’t see that.
In the days preceding the 2004 Thune race, several GOP blogs would cross cover stories, such as on the apparent biases of the Argus Leader when it came to Tom Daschle. In the days after, there were several Dem websites who would do the same, such as with the Dan Nelson Auto stories.
But in the past year or so, you don’t see organized “blog storms.” Especially since such blogs from the left as Clean Cut Kid and sdprogressive.com have gone off the grid, there really isn’t an organized “blog-storming” effort by party activists on the left or the right, so any issues people want to keep tabs on are going to tend to be blog specific, as opposed to the mass pilings on which would drive media coverage.
Anyone care to take a guess as to what it all means? Are we becoming less propagandistic, are we just driving mainstream media less and less, or is there another cause?
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Comments
I think Coralhei is largely correct in his analysis (as is PP). However, 2007 wasn’t an election year and there was not an overtly partisan issue that galvanized either side. Thus, I could see more of the “blog storming” occurring in 2008.
As noted above, the loss of CCK and SD Progressive took some of the oomph from the Left. CCK was my second largest referral source after SDWC (thanks, Pat!). Now, KELOLAND is, with Madville Times gaining speed as a referral source (thanks, Cory!). But CCK’s loss from the grid did present some challenges traffic-wise to some of us on the Left.
Also, I think bloggers, for the most part, are much better about identifying who they are, and, as CAH points out, most people can now smell a “blog storm” that is orchestrated by outside sources.
That’s not to say, however, that we all still don’t have our own sources within our political parties and movements. PP and I are proof of that. And as CAH points out, most bloggers are pretty independent minded even as it comes to their own political parties. Sibby, PP, Bob Ellis, the Viking, and myself have clearly aired our differences within our own parties and movements in our blogs. Some might calls us cranks for doing so; I like to think of it as being independent minded.
And CAH is also right on another point: most bloggers are a bit on the anarchy side and like to stir the pot.
Good post and good comment, PP and CAH.
Now, let’s get the vast SD Blogosphere Conspiracy together again for some more pheasant hunting at Nemec’s place and plot our next moves!
Todd
Hypothesis 1: Deep down, all bloggers are anarchists. If they weren’t, they’d get 9-to-5 jobs writing for The Man. They can tolerate organization only so long, and only when they are really motivated by some issue where they perceive extraordinary benefits from coordination.
Hypothesis 2: We have a blog-storm right now: the strange multiheaded beast called the SD Blogosphere. Remember all those folks who got together to shoot pheasants in November? There’s your storm, an organically evolving collaborative group, all interested in not just some single narrow issue (thank goodness) but reporting on South Dakota and holding the powers that be and each other accountable.
Hypothesis 3: Organized blog-storms are propaganda machines. Propaganda is BS. The maturing blogosphere detects and rejects BS. Organized blog-storms thus don’t fly in the blogosphere.