"Blogging a convention, I learned at the Fleet Center, is a lot like attending a football game as opposed to watching television -- you actually miss a lot of what the television audience sees, and the compensation is feeling what the television audience can't," says law professor, author and radio talk-show host Hugh Hewitt, one of the credentialed Republican National Convention bloggers featured in today's Wall Street Journal's "Meet the Bloggers, Part II":
Republican Web loggers are getting ready for their shot at posting convention news and commentary, and they say they've learned from their left-leaning counterparts' experience five weeks earlier.
At Madison Square Garden, the official blogger group will number [14], a tiny fraction of the estimated 15,000 journalists expected, and less than half the size of the accredited Boston blogger set. "That's just the number we landed on," said convention spokeswoman Alyssa McClenning . . . In the accreditation process, Republican convention organizers invited particular bloggers, while the Democrats used applications. But the result is the same: a lot of home-team support.
Here's a sampling of the bloggers' comments about their blogs -- several are regulars in our blogroll! -- and how they're planning to cover the convention.:
Don't talk to the mainstream media. Oops. -- Bill Ardolino of INDC Journal
I'm aware much of the audience isn't interested in what I had for dinner and what my hotel room is like. -- Kevin Aylward of Wizbang!
In my experience, most delegates are knowledgeable, interesting people. I plan to spend quite a bit of time talking to them, taking the party's pulse, so to speak, and getting their perspective on how the race shapes up in their states. -- Lawyer John Hinderaker of the group blog Power Line.
I plan to convey the real feel of the convention from the floor to my readers in a way traditional media can't. Representing Blogs For Bush, I feel I am also going to represent the entire pro-Bush blog community that has united on my site. Because of that, I am giving them the opportunity to participate by submitting questions to potential interviewees. -- Graduate student and architectural designer Matt Margolis of Blogs for Bush (Matt Margolis, He's our man. If he can't do it, no one can!)
I anticipate that the mainstream media outlets will be spinning away at the RNC, and I believe one of the primary obligations of the bloggers will be to point out where they factually jump the rails. -- Customer-service manager and part-time radio talk show host Edward Morrissey, aka "Captain Ed" of Captain's Quarters (The Captain also reports he's made his "first outright sale as a writer" of his article re John Kerry's endorsement of UMass-Boston's hiring of Communist 'scholars' from Viet Nam to the New York Sun. Steady as she goes, sir.)
I am going to look at how the candidates, party, organizations, and media use the Internet in relation to the convention [and] who is writing about the bloggers and what are they saying. -- strategic consultant Brian Reich of Campaign Web Review
I'll be a wild political animal rather than a political pet. My message too will be Republican, but not just for America -- I aim to change NYC itself. The Belly of the Beast is due for a nice chunk of antacid . . . Blogs are about immediacy and unexpected angles. -- Internet consultant Scott Sala of Slant Point.
This time we're writing without editors and with quick immediacy. That can be interesting -- the Japanese Zen brush painting of journalism. But as with all writing, it's only as good as the writer. -- Mystery writer and screenwriter Roger L. Simon
The Boston blogger coverage added almost nothing to my understanding of events. We're hoping to do better. -- Global health consultant Josh Trevino of group blog Tacitus
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