Saturday, September 10, 2005

Atrios pleads with the media not to ignore the "monotonous stories" at the heart of rebuilding New Orleans. "Please, press, both local and national, do your job following the saga of the reconstruction of New Orleans. There are going to be land grabs and corruption and bribery and efforts by the NO elite to keep the poor from returning." "Please, follow the story. You'll be the only watchdog for this." Actually, I think this is a moment when local bloggers can make a huge difference. Not as a replacement for the pros -- the mass media remains critically important. But local people with blogs can cover a lot more meetings, follow a more projects, and sniff out more inside dope than the pros alone could ever do. The locals -- the individuals and the networks they form -- need to own some of this. They'll feed Atrios and Glenn Reynolds and others across the political spectrum who have the attention of the national media -- and they can emerge as a force unto themselves. This is a job for journalism's long tail. 3:22:06 PM   permalink   comment []

At National Review's The Corner blog, Rod Dreher says the cronyism that put unqualified political hacks in charge at FEMA is "a real scandal." Yes, The National Review. Dreher: "How is it possible that four years after 9/11, the president treats a federal agency vital to homeland security as a patronage prize?...What if al-Qaeda had blown the New Orleans levees? How much worse would the crony-led FEMA's response have been?" Via both Instapundit and Atrios, which tells you something. 7:44:26 AM   permalink   comment []

A couple of blogs underway from The Independent Weekly. Scan covers music and related matters, and Dent is on the political beat. 7:38:05 AM   permalink   comment []