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A Warning About Blogger Conference Calls

Steve Clemons of the New America Foundation has participated in numerous conference calls as a blogger at The Washington Note, which he publishes independently of the foundation, and he finds them both fascinating and educational. But he sees some "landmines" in the calls, which are becoming increasingly popular with members of Congress.

I addressed the topic here a few weeks ago, after Republicans welcomed a handful of bloggers into the Beltway inner circle. Clemons' critique of the blog calls is worth reading, too, because he has the perspective of a Democratic blogger who has been a regular participant -- and one who has been criticized by some like-minded bloggers for revealing too much from one call with Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

The money quote: "[I]t seems increasingly clear to me that those on the call -- both the member of Congress and the bloggers -- are engaged in an informal collusion of interests."

And this section is worth reprinting in its entirety:

I think it's fine that senators or House members annoint some "favored bloggers" as ones they want to reach out to, but the bloggers have an obligation to maintain some distance and objectivity in the process. Otherwise, the blogs will be seen as mouthpieces and noise machines of that member's operation, and as part of the "explicit" operation of a political organization.

Last night, I heard a disturbing rumor that I have not confirmed ... that there has been one organizer of liberal blogger conference calls who imposed a "publish or perish" rule requiring all participants in a call to write about that call, and favorably. This person apparently required bloggers on the call to report and write about the meeting with some respective member of Congress or not be invited back in the future.

Why would anyone impose such a rule? Why would a senator or representative and his or her staff put the member in a position of making it look like they are trading access for manufactured Web press? If this rumor is true, then bloggers are being put in the position of being "agents" of that member -- and there are serious legal consequences to that.

The bigger issue for me with the blogger conference calls is the sycophancy that seems to be developing in these meetings -- and the unwritten norm that those bloggers on the call are the running dogs for that particular senator. There is clearly a "community" of interests where the line between the journalistic and reporting objectives of the blogger and the interests of the senator or representative are becoming practically invisible.

One side note: Clemons has heard that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, a New York Democrat considered to be a potential presidential candidate in 2008, will not do blog calls.

Read the whole entry. It's chock-full of great insights.

UPDATE: Matt Stoller of MyDD has more thoughts on blog calls and blogger ethics. His is an influential voice in the blogosphere, so I'm glad to hear him broaching the subject. Hopefully more bloggers will join the conversation.

Posted by | 04:05 PM

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Comments

Of course Hillary won't do blog calls. She doesn't have to. She is problaby the only US Senator in history that won office without ever having an on the record conversation or unscripted interview with one single journalist.

tjg | 02.03.06 10:48 PM

wish i could read the whole entry. looks interesting, but the page is inaccessible

BeH | 02.04.06 08:13 AM

Steve seems awfully hung up on the journalist question. He also seems to have missed the GOP calls that bloggers themselves not only organized - but posted recordings and transcripts of within a day. (recordings within minutes)

Mike Krempasky | 02.04.06 09:27 AM

Mike makes a good point about one difference between the blog calls organized Republicans and those organized by Democrats.

As someone who monitors blogs on a daily basis I have found it very easy to keep track of the blog calls conducted by Republicans because the bloggers themselves for the most part have been very transparent. They let their readers know about the calls in advance, recap them on their blogs afterward, offer commentary on the substance of the blogs and regularly pose transcripts.

Not so with the Democrats who have been conducting calls. Theirs seem to be more of an "insider" outreach affairs from specific lawmakers (sometimes party leaders) to like-minded bloggers. Based on Steve's post, it sounds like these calls are occurring regularly, but I almost never see them mentioned on the numerous blogs I track.

For purposes of Beltway Blogroll, I do wish the Democratic calls were as transparent as those of Republicans. It's ironic that they are not considering how much grief I have caught in the past week from liberal bloggers who think transparency is the answer to every ethical concern. Hopefully, they will do a better job of informing their readers about these calls and letting them know exactly what happens in them.

Danny Glover | 02.04.06 10:14 AM

Greetings Danny, Mike, et al --

Just to clarify, I'm not all that worried about journalists Mike. I'm trying to think through a trend that I feel happening in these calls. I've been screamed at by quite a few people in the last couple of days for raising this question about the respective roles of bloggers and politicians on these calls. Less loudly, I have received a lot of fan mail as well for surfacing this stuff (actually Danny wrote the first piece -- but I didn't see it until last night).

What worries me is that over time, there seems to be more and more 'presumed collusion' by the Member with those on the call. Some have said that they aren't blogger/journalists, they are blogger/activists. But the truth is that you have a wide array of bloggers on the call.

My key point is that if I'm on such a call, I think good journalistic norms should apply. If some want to be engaged in a collusive relationship, fine by me. But if I choose to write up any part of that call -- then I should be given robust latitude to do that.

The fact is that Senators and House Members are increasingly using blogs to be a part of their journalistic and citizen outreach. I consider this a new kind of journalism that has poorly managed norms.

I'm unfamiliary with the Republican calls -- but if you have people out there recording the calls and their primary points, that is excellent -- and something I think should be happening in these other calls too.

Any chance Mike you could get me in on a Republican call or two?

Best,

Steve Clemons

Steve Clemons | 02.04.06 11:14 AM

"There is clearly a "community" of interests where the line between the journalistic and reporting objectives of the blogger and the interests of the senator or representative are becoming practically invisible."

This sounds exactly like the Mainstream Media. When Jay Rockefeller leaks the NSA's al Qaeda surveillance program, don't both have the same interests.

I hope you're successful in establishing Blogger standards, give up on the MSM though, they're hopeless.

Jabba the Tutt | 02.04.06 11:46 AM

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