VCC Magazine Fall 2018

V irginia C apitol C onnections , F all 2018 9 In the last issue of Virginia Capitol Connections, I discussed the “fourth estate”—and how that term came to describe the news media as a watchdog over the three branches of government. But who watches the watchdog? Bloggers, thanks to the ease of publishing online. In recent years, the blogging community has been dubbed the “fifth estate.” Stephen Cooper, a communication professor at Marshall University, applied that nickname in a 2006 book—shortly after bloggers shot holes in a report by CBS anchor Dan Rather that President George W. Bush had shirked his duties in the National Guard in the 1970s. Questions raised by the blogs Power Line and Little Green Footballs prompted the network to fire Rather. Like the national scene, Virginia has a vibrant blogosphere, with commentary and perspective from political junkies and citizen journalists from the right, left and center. To track what’s happening in state government and politics, it’s important to monitor not only the fourth estate but also the fifth. First, a definition and some history: The word blog comes from “web log.” It’s a regularly updated website or web page, usually written in an informal or conversational style, with the most recent postings first. Blogs can be traced to online journals that emerged on the World Wide Web in the mid-1990s. Back then, the software for creating or editing a web page was gnarly; blogs were the domain mostly of programmers and techies. But that changed beginning in 1999 with the development of easy web-editing platforms such as Blogger, LiveJournal, Movable Type and WordPress. As a result, thousands of blogs emerged, and many of them, such as Instapundit and Political Wire, attracted a national audience. They started having a national impact. In 2002, for instance, Talking Points Memo and other blogs prompted U.S. Sen. Trent Lott to resign for making comments sympathetic to racial segregation—comments initially ignored by the traditional news media. With the advent of social media, a lot of the energy of the blogging movement has shifted to Twitter, Facebook and other “micro-blogging” platforms. But numerous blogs continue to publish on the web. Many mainstream media organizations maintain blogs, such as the Shad Plank, produced by the Daily Press of Newport News. Sometimes, a blog that started as an amateur effort or a labor of love has grown into a professional news outlet. For example, the blog Charlottesville Tomorrow became the first online member of the Virginia Press Association and partners with The Daily Progress of Charlottesville. The blogs I find most interesting are ones with information and opinions I might not find in traditional media. Here is a rundown. Bearing Drift https://bearingdrift.com This blog was founded in 2004 and calls itself “Virginia’s Conservative Voice.” Its name is a nautical term, and the blog’s editors say their political philosophy parallels the U.S. Coast Guard’s “rules of the road.” “The best course of action when there is a risk of collision is to alter one’s course to starboard— the right,” the blog’s About Us page states. “In our case, we also believe this is true in public policy: When it looks like the ship of state is going to wreck, alter the course to the right—you can’t go wrong! The Bull Elephant http://thebullelephant.com This blog, established four years ago, says its mission is to “provide unique coverage of politics and policy in Virginia and elsewhere, giving particular emphasis to those issues and concerns given short shrift in mainstream media outlets.” “We strive to include varied right-leaning, conservative, and libertarian perspectives on important public issues, so opinions will run the gamut from conventional to ‘out there,’ with the idea that all benefit from listening to opinions that challenge their own perspectives.” The Republican Standard https://therepublicanstandard.com This blog, created in 2017, describes itself as “a new media journal delivering clear, factual and smartly-balanced information to Virginia’s public square.” “Our goal is simple: To cut through the fog of the information warfare that passes for news in today’s media and offer a clear, sharp, and trustworthy voice for the center-right in Virginia at every level of government,” the editors write on their About Us page. Bacon’s Rebellion https://www.baconsrebellion.com After a 25-year career in Virginia journalism, James A. Bacon founded this blog more than a decade ago, pursued other ventures and then re-launched it in 2011. He calls the blog “Virginia’s leading politically non-aligned portal for news, opinions and analysis about state, regional and local public policy.” “Our mission is to provide Virginia citizens with the ideas and news they need to build more prosperous, livable and sustainable communities,” said Bacon, who also contributes to Bearing Drift. Bacon’s Rebellion reflects a trust in free markets as well as in the need for “collective action, either in the civic realm or in the governmental realm.” Free Virginia https://freevirginia.blogspot.com This blog, which dates to 2005, offers “commentary on Virginia politics from a Libertarian perspective.” It is published by Marc Montoni, a Charlottesville consultant whose favorite quotes include “Liberty is the only thing you cannot have unless you’re willing to let everyone else have it also.” The Free Virginia blog isn’t prolific; it averages about one post per month. But the items provide a Libertarian alternative to the Republican-vs.-Democratic perspective reflected in most newspapers—on issues such as automobile insurance, guns and police brutality. See The '5th Estate' , continued on page 10 The ‘5th Estate’: Bloggers keep watch on news media By Jeff South 888-729-7428 • shavoffice@shav.org • shav.org