From Seattle writer and consultant Matt Rosenberg...: Jerry Brown Is In The House

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Jerry Brown Is In The House

March 01, 2005

Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown's new blog is lean, clean and bluesy. He gets it, totally. What I like: The tone is newsy, blunt and sometimes philosophical. He articulates the importance of blogs vis-a-vis the MSM. There are plenty of links, and an open comment forum, both crucial. He also links to those with views opposing his own. Commendable. I don't know if Brown has a ghost-blogger in the shadows or not. But this sounds very much like his own voice, and it's an impressive debut.

Yes, he's running for something, tho you'd barely know to look at the first few posts. Brown is seeking the 2006 Democratic nomination for CA Attorney General. He's terming out as mayor, and has come a long way from his Governor Moonbeam days. Oakland'll do that.

I'd love to see some Seattle-area or Washington state pols start a real blog, not just the occasional house-organ campaign blogs we get from candidates here.

A likely suspect would be Seattle City Council member Nick Licata, who has for at least seven years been sending out to all interested parties an e-newsletter, also available online, titled "Urban Politics."

Ted Shelton, a tech entrepreneur and local constituent who helped get Jerry Brown into the blogosphere, says more politico blogging will heighten transparency and boost democracy.

Issue advocacy groups also need to better understand the power of blogging. I'm talking about real blogging, with more than canned position statements; repurposed press releases; or copied letters of protest, and rally notices.

Fresh news and commentary links, objective third-party data, reader comments, dissent, dialogue - that's what you want. An advocacy group's blog needs to be a pre-eminent information clearinghouse and discussion forum in the given area of expertise. Few are on the right track yet, but it's early. One promising start is evident at "Evolution News and Views," a blog from the Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture. They're weaving news and editorial links into their posts, advancing an important agenda: better and more balanced media coverage of the evolution-intelligent design controversy.

Would-be bloggers from the realms of politics, advocacy and business need to remember part of their job is to show the reader something new. The reach of news crawlers and RSS technology put the world at a blogger's fingertips. But it is a "pull" technology, the reader must be drawn to the expedition, and cannot remain mute along the way. Hugh Hewitt has a good phrase for bloggers: "cyber-sherpas."