May 11, 2005

On the Governor's Blog

Here is audio of the stories WNOX radio in Knoxville is running today about politicians blogging, especially Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen's new blog. The stories were all produced by reporter Christine Jessel, who reports for both WNOX (NewsTalk100) and WIVK in Knoxville.

You can listen to WNOX live online here.

You can download the Mp3 file of those radio reports by clicking here.

UPDATE: Matt White wonders why Bredesen hasn't blogged about this. White: "This is one incident where the Governor can use his blog to reach out to interested citizens and provide some insights that only he can provide. We will all be better for knowing the mechanics of how these situations are handled and perhaps some of us who have been critical of the Governor in the past can gain a better appreciation for how he manages his administration.

Stories like this will tell the tale about how seriously the Governor takes his foray into the blogosphere. If he tackles tough ones like this, his blog will be an invaluable resource for Tennesseans. If he uses it merely to publish talking points about his programs, then it's just a well-organized collection of press releases."

What he said.

UPDATE: I'm listening to the audio of the entire interview I did with WNOX - it's about 9:26 in length - and it's worth updating this post to mention that the reporter, Christine Jessel, is an excellent interviewer. She asked intelligent questions that showed she had an understanding of blogging and also lacked the mainstream media's normal hostility toward blogs.

I may at some point post the full interview audio over at VolPols.com.

UPDATE: State Rep. Stacey Campfield, Tennessee's first blogging legislator, says the governor's new blog may be less than it appears:

Well, it didn't take long to find out about the Governor's blog and its political instead of communicative purposes. First, he doesn't allow comments. All you can do is fill out a one-question survey on how you feel about Pre-K. (And yes, I voted on his site.)

The results were about 60% for and 40% opposed when I was on the site. Gauging from my own input from my constituents, I had figured the results would have been the opposite. But anyway, I found it interesting.

I held out hope for a comment section though-and remained optimistic. Unfortunately, I have now discovered that the Governor's blog/web designer sent out a mass email to all the pro pre-K people indicating that a blog had been set up for the Governor with a pre-K poll on it. The email encouraged them to go online and vote in favor of Pre-K.

Come on Governor! This is a terrible way to start your blog.