News-Record.com

Normally, I wouldn’t blog and the nature of blogs and political journalism here. I used to muse on those subjects back when I had a personal blog, now remembered only by the Google cash.

But thanks to Ed, I got to reading a post by Chris Nolan and I quite liked the piece but it left me conflicted.

Why? Well, I have a day job as a political and government reporter, but as part of that I blog. And after reading Nolan’s piece, it seemed like “a blogger” and “a journalist” might not be able to inhabit the same professional realm, much less the same body.

So, can blogger and reporter co-exist? Really, it was quite the existential crisis for me.

But then I remembered one of my favorite rants: “A blog is a wrench!” That’s how it started. It was my little way of making the point that a blog is merely a piece of software, a tool, and the people who use that tool are bloggers. It’s what they do with the tool that defines them, not the tool itself.

So while I here at my personal little backwater on the internets and the Washington Posts’ well read political blogger and the boys over at talkingaboutpolitics and the fellow who runs blue nc and the folks who run The Locker Room are all bloggers, I don’t think many folks would mistake us for the same kind of animal. That would sort of be like saying the folks who made a bundle driving kids to prom recently and Secret Service agents are the same thing because they both drive limos.

Nolan’s piece is really aimed at the Daily Kos and questions about who might or might not be buying their political loyalty – not triggering existential dilemmas. She writes:

But if you're "media" - mainstream, traditional, new, or old - this sort of talk ought to raise a few questions about what's your job is, how you're doing it and where you loyalties lie. What - exactly - is the relationship between DailyKos and the candidates it supports? And when are they going to stop being coy about it?

Well, I don’t support candidates. That’s for the editorial board. But it would be a fair to ask what exactly is my agenda, and who’s footing the bill for these cyber-digs.

Basically, the News & Record sent me to Raleigh to try to write things from the state capital of particular interest to readers in Guilford County and the surrounding area. The exact details of that mandate are ever-changing and the subject of a good deal of navel-gazing between my editors and me. This blog is an extension of that mission, whatever it turns out that is.

What does this mean for you people? Nothing really, I don't think, except to say that you'll probably get more of the same boring ol’ stuff from your friendly local MSM, old media type, policy wonk of a blogger. And as always, if you have a special request for something you'd like to see the paper checking out, drop me a line at the comment link below or via e-mail.