Carolina Freedom Net

Yes, I not only attended Carolina Freedom Net, but was a participant on the first panel. Indeed, the focus of that first panel was supposed to be on the merits of blogging about local vs. national issues, and my fellow panel members pretty much focused on on national issues. Since I generally assume that most people are smarter than I am, I spoke only when asked. When the subject of local blogging popped up during the second panel, I mentioned that the group of excellent local bloggers here, espcially those who cover government affairs, are letting the individual citizen know what's going on with our elected officials. This is espcially important as Greensboro transforms itself from a corporate economy
economy to an entrepreneurial economy. More and more, individuals are finding themselves going before government bodies asking for approval of their various business ventures. It certainly gives them an upper hand to know the tendencies and viewpoints of their elected officials on a more detailed basis.

Personally, I found Scott Johnson's keynote speech fascinating. To be honest, I did not know the full story of how the Rathergate memo story broke, so a moment-by-moment account was particularly interesting. And we're literally talking moment-by-moment, because the whole thing
literally blew up in half a day. Johnson said when he made the post, he knew practically nothing about Times New Roman fonts; by noon he had "an assembly of analysis that would have been unimagineable years before."

The weird thing is, you always think of the things you want to say after an event like this. Floyd Stuart and I went and had a couple of beers later and talked about the conference. To begin with, I would have liked to ask Josh Manchester, author of The Adventures of Chester, his views on the war in Iraq. We spoke briefly before getting separated, something that happens in groups of people.

I also realized that much of the discussion centered on how the mainstream media was becoming more like the new media. Credibility was a major theme; as the Rathergate story broke, Johnson constantly worried he was blowing the credibility he'd worked so hard to build; Mary Katherine Ham said that when she makes a particularly angry post, she always takes the time to breathe and read it over carefully.

So with this in mind, I wondered how the new media was becoming more like the mainstream media. Practically every newspaper has a blog now. And lucky me, I'm getting paid to blog. But along with financial compensation comes expectations. My "publisher" so far hasn't micro-managed; but I know he's reading. So while I enjoy what I'm doing, some of the same old anxieties I suffered as a print reporter are emerging. Is my news judgement sound? Is the 'competition' beating me? What if, God forbid, I get something wrong?

Questions to ponder for the next blog conference. Unfortunately, I won't make Converge South. I'll be here, soaking in a hot tub.

Comments

[Joe Guarino]

Sam, it was great to finally meet you. You did a great job on the panel, as you are also doing with Piedmont Publius. The new blog has the potential to become a very influential voice, so I am cheering for your success.

[samhieb]

Same to you, and thanks for the encouragement, Joe.

Sam