War in Blogville? Important Battles But No Real Combat

Except for posting a note about the National Press Club's um... interesting choice of Ana Marie Cox of Wonkette and Jeff Gannon (aka JD Guckert, aka Cock for Hire) to sit on a panel about blogging, journalism, and ethics and the fact that some bloggers had rallied to let the NPC know this dynamic duo doesn't exactly represent either blogs or journalism, I've stayed mostly quiet on the issue.

On the one hand, I'm more apt to blow this away as "yet another bogus fair and balanced panel". I mean, when was the last time you saw a panel that really represented the full range of expert opinions on a particular subject? Even when I watch something like Democracy Now or Link TV's news where I get opinions and info CNN wouldn't give me if my life depended on it, I lament the fact that everything gets "packaged" before it gets to me. People decide whom to interview and you either end up with a gross imbalance or just people shouting at one another (and let's face it, MSNBC, Faux, and CNN ALL now often present just one person on one side of an issue, and usually, it's not representative of the majority).

But I respect Steve Gilliard and others who are quite upset about this NPC issue because the supposedly serious organization's choice represents two non-serious, clownish extremes that show neither intelligent "liberal" dialogue or conservative (let alone the diverse range between). If you wanted to have both on a panel to discuss say, "blog celebrity" or even "the joys of sodomy", both would be excellent choices. I have never sought celebrity (let alone through a blog) or ass fucking, so I'd be a rotten choice.

Ana Marie probably didn't help her cause much when she posted yesterday saying she was joining the liberal blogger camp and then making snarky comments. But that's what she does. That's the Wonkette blog. On a good day or when I need a laugh, I venture over to Wonkette for a quick snark. But she's not where I go for serious news. And when I need a laugh with some meat to it, there are a ton of other blogs like Skippy, General JC Christian, and TBogg who fill the bill very nicely.

At the same time, however, while Ana Marie certainly accepts media invitations regularly (she's probably the most often televised blogger), I have to say I've never heard her pretend to be other than she is. Let us also not forget that she's decent eye candy. Certainly prettier than Andrew Sullivan, etc.

Were I her and got an invitation to a gig like the National Press Club, I suspect I would not accept until I learned what the subject was and who else was being presented. If I saw no obvious role for me or where I felt I had no special expertise, I'd decline while offering some smart suggestions for better choices. I've done this in the computer field.

The fault lies mostly, however, with the National Press Club. If they wanted to have a panel where Wonkette and Jeff Gannon were appropriate, there were lots of ways to handle it. But they didn't need to call it an "ethics in blogging and journalism" discussion when their panel members don't fit the bill. I can fault Ana Marie for accepting (Jeff's just an idiot and plagiarist) but the blame lies solidly with the National Press Club.