Good Tribune Blog -- But More Postings Needed
One of the better local political blogs is the Tribune’s Out of Context, written by 11 Tribune staffers. Political news reporters make good bloggers because they are full-time interacting with the political world, talking to politicians and observing behavior. Plenty of grist for a blog. They are also good, sometimes even entertaining, writers, and it’s not hard for them to slip into terse blog-speak.
News reporters usually come across more interesting information and tidbits than they can fit in the newspaper or broadcast outlet, so having a blog provides another channel to use their material.
By comparison, most hobbyist political bloggers have other full-time jobs and they are not interacting daily with the political world, so they mostly comment on and link to something someone else has written, rather than come up with original material.
One challenge for news reporter bloggers is that they have to remain semi-neutral and objective in their blogging activities because they have to cover their beat and they can’t be viewed as unfair and one-sided. Most other bloggers take a definite point of view or adopt an ideology. News reporters usually won’t do that. They don’t express strong personal opinions.
Out of Context has a lot of advantages and it should emerge as Utah’s premier political blog. However, with 11 writers, it’s disappointing that there aren’t more posts each day. On Wednesday there were only two posts; on Tuesday one post; on Monday one post, and so forth.
Surely, with 11 skilled and trained journalists, all interacting in the political world and talking to interesting people, the Tribune blog can do better than that. The Tribune’s legislative blog was very successful, in part because of the frequent postings.
Washington Watch
Hatch, Bennett Vote for Amendment
Sens. Orrin Hatch and Bob Bennett vote in favor of the proposed "Marriage Protection Amendment," but the measure fails to receive the 60 votes needed to allow further debate (see Hatch and Bennett press releases).
Matheson Backs Anti-Indecency Measures
Rep. Jim Matheson says new get-tough legislative measures targeting indecent programming aired by the broadcast media "will help parents who want to shield their children from inappropriate content" (see press release); Matheson says he's "pleased that efforts to restore funding to urban health programs serving Native Americans succeeded," crediting "the executive director of the Indian Walk-In Center in Salt Lake City with helping draw attention to the program's effectiveness" (press release).
Blog Watch
At One Utah, Ed Firmage challenges "religious leaders" to a debate about gay marriage (see also here, here, here, here, here, and here)... Rep. Jeff Alexander has a post on public education funding... Emily for Utah discusses NCLB... Two Guys from Quantico discusses an "interesting battle ... brewing in Orem, one that could shape Utah education for years to come"... Hot Blava explains "why I love immigration" (see also here)... Wilf Sommerkorn discusses the over-representation of realtors in the Utah Legislature... At Out of Context, Robert Gehrke reports: "Utah's Republican delegation got behind Rep. Chris Cannon [last night], throwing a $1,000-per person fundraiser to help boost Cannon in his primary battle with millionaire businessman John Jacob" (see also here)... Mid Market Maven predicts a rosy future for the Utah economy... Utah Centralist notes LaVerkin's penchant for "screwy resolutions."
-- Compiled by Golden Webb
|
