Blogging & Politics:

Kurita Launches More Blog Ads, August 26, 2005
On the same day that U.S. Rep. Harold Ford lashed out at "right wing attack blogs" after they discussed his recent gaffe involving a letter that seemed to encourage the parole board to set a murderer free, his rival for the Democratic nomination to replace Bill Frist in the U.S. Senate showed again that she is far more savvy about the blogosphere than he is. State Sen. Rosalind Kurita launched a second wave of Internet...

Blogging New Ground, August 25, 2005
A story in yesterday's Nashville City Paper looked at the role blogs are playing in the 2006 Senate race in Tennessee....

Political Bloggers' Lunch Update, August 16, 2005
Former U.S. Rep. Ed Bryant, currently running for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate seat that Bill Frist will vacate at the end of 2006, will be the guest at the second monthly Nashville area political bloggers' lunch. Jeff Vanness of the Ed Bryant for U.S. Senate campaign is currently looking for a date in late September. I'll keep you posted. This event will of course be open to liberal and conservative political bloggers...

JS2 Post-View, August 15, 2005
Rob Huddleston's summary of the Justice Sunday 2 event is spot-on - and his little tidbits of info showing how MSM journalists regarded the bloggers at the event are interesting though, being a recovering ex-MSM journalist, I'm not surprised....

JS2 Live Blog, August 14, 2005
Editor's Note: This live-blog is posted in reverse chronological order. Scroll to the bottom for the beginning, and read each time-stamped section scolling up. All times are p.m., central. 7:27: Rebecca St. James is singing to close the event. I listened pretty hard to most of the proceedings and heard not a single call for establishment of a right-wing Christian theocracy in Washington D.C. I'm pretty sure the Left heard it differently, though, and I'll...

JS2 News Conference, August 14, 2005
Ed Morrissey blogged the 3 p.m. news conference at Justice Sunday 2. It's likely better coverage than anything you'll find in a newspaper tomorrow. Like Ed, Blake Wylie blogs the news conference and notes the press is "skeptical" about the true purpose of JS2. Beth Woodfin also blogged the press conference. Trey Jackson has a photo, and more to come soon. Lance at Red State Rant reflects on the press conference from a liberal's perspective:...

Justice Sunday 2 Preview, August 14, 2005
Ed Morrissey has some thoughts about what he hopes to hear at tonight's Justice Sunday 2 event in Nashville. He's one of several bloggers who will be live-blogging it....

Well, that's Rather Ironic, August 13, 2005
The Tennessean reports today that "calls to cancel a political and religious rally originating from a Nashville church tomorrow evening have fallen on deaf ears." The group of folks criticizing Justice Sunday 2 and the fact that it is being organized by Christians and held at a church includes: Bishop Joseph Walker, senior pastor of Mount Zion Baptist Church, one of the largest Midstate congregations, and the Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United...

Networking, August 13, 2005
Mark Tapscott analyzes a study of how the Left is using the blogosphere as an organizing tool....

2 Live Crew In The News, August 12, 2005
I'm mentioned and briefly quoted in AP reporter Jonathan Katz's story on the plans for a group of bloggers to live-blog Justice Sunday II. The story, "Organizers to sponsor bloggers who attend televised church rally," is online at several Tennessee and Kentucky news sites. Jeff Jarvis and Charmaine Yoest, organizer of the 2 Live Crew, also are quoted. Mine is a one-sentence quote. Katz interviewed me for about 25 minutes. I wish my cell phone...

Political Bloggers' Lunch With Sen. Kurita, August 10, 2005
Are you a Tennessee blogger who specializes in writing about state or national politics? If so, you may be invited to a special "bloggers' lunch" August 29 with state Sen. Rosalind Kurita, D-Clarksville. Kurita, a candidate for the U.S. Senate, has agreed to take questions and engage in a discussion with bloggers regarding state and national policy issues and politics....

2 Live Crew, August 09, 2005
Charmaine Yoest, a blogger and part-time senior fellow and policy researcher at the Family Research Council, has arranged for several bloggers (including myself) to live-blog Justice Sunday II in Nashville on Sunday, August 14. The list of other bloggers confirmed to attend: Ed Morrissey of Captain's Quarters, Trey Jackson of Jackson’s Junction, Lance McMurray of Red State Rant, Joe Carter of Evangelical Outpost, Blake Wylie of Nashville Files, Jackson Miller of Jaxn.org, and Beth Woodfin...

2 Live Blog - Justice Sunday, August 07, 2005
2 p.m. I''ll be live-blogging the Family Research Council's Justice Sunday II from Two Rivers Baptist Church in Nashville this evening. All updates will be posted at this permalink as part of the same single entry, in reverse chronological order (newest information on top). This will be a very interesting experiment in online real-time journalism. The event gets rolling at 6 p.m. central time. UPDATE: Oops. I'm a week off on my internal calendar. Justice...

Justice Sunday II, August 06, 2005
As of now, plans are that I'll be live-blogging Justice Sunday II from Two Rivers Baptist Church in Nashville Sunday night. It was a choice between that and an intra-denominational church gathering at the Williamson County Fair Sunday night, as all Nashville-area churches involved in the Operation Andrew Ministry are gathering for a 90-minute worship event described as "an occasion for Christians of all denominations, racial and ethnic backgrounds to get together for a joyous...

documentary:BLOG Clips, August 05, 2005
Two clips from the forthcoming documentary film documentary:BLOG, filmed partially in Nashville at the BlogNashville conference last may, have been posted online here at the film's weblog, www.documentaryblog.com....

Coffee With Grover, August 03, 2005
Rob Huddleston has posted an excellent post about the recent meeting of Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform and a group of right-of-center Tennessee political bloggers in Nashville. Huddleston drove from Knoxville for the afternoon gathering, so I'm quite happy he found it to have been a worthwhile event to attend. I had to leave the coffee gathering early, so I missed most of what sounds from all reports like a fascinating and useful...

Grover Blogging, August 02, 2005
Yes, that's Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform chatting with some Tennessee political bloggers at Nashville's Bongo Java coffeehouse late Tuesday afternoon. Norquist is on the right side of the picture, at the end of the table. To his left around the table are, in order, Nathan Moore, Rob Huddleston, Matt White, Bob Krumm and Jay Bush. I was behind the camera. UPDATE: Jay Bush's report on the gathering is here. Norquist met...

Wired War, July 29, 2005
The August issue of Wired has an excellent story by John Hockenberry on military bloggers. Mudville Gazette, Thunder 6 and other great mil-blogs are mentioned and profiled. It isn't online yet, but will be on August 4, according to the website. You don't have to wait for the digital version of course, as Wired is also distributed on thin slabs of dead trees....

Gov. Bredesen's Blog Has A Pulse. Barely., July 25, 2005
Gov. Phil Bredesen has posted his third blog entry ever, and the first since May 22, on his underwhelming Phil Blog. He actually posted it back on July 19, but when a blogger only posts something once every two months, you don't get into the habit of checking his blog every day. And, no, his blog still doesn't actually allow readers to post comments or make it easy to email the Guv....

Chattanooga Paper Explores Blogs, July 06, 2005
The Chattanooga Times Free Press story on blogs ran on Independence Day, which means almost nobody saw it. And because the Times Free Press locks its online content behind a register-and-pay wall, almost nobody online saw the story, either. But the story - by reporters Michael Davis and Herman Wang, is a pretty solid story that deserves to be seen, read, and commented on. I was interviewed by Davis and extensively quoted so I've taken...

...and counting..., July 06, 2005
It has been 45 days since Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen last posted to his blog....

The Missing Piece, July 03, 2005
Larry Daughtrey has a good column today on how the Tennessee media is covering the legislature less. Daughtrey: "It just sticks in my competitive craw to see the FBI, not the press, break the biggest Capitol Hill story of the decade." The only media development Daughtrey misses is the growing impact on legislative media coverage of independent "citizen journalists," who publish blogs and online news magazines. This year alone, Tennessee political news blogs and online...

Thanks to Blogs, Nashvillians Still Have Right to Fight $20 "Wheel Tax" Increase, June 29, 2005
Nashvillians will pay higher property taxes and $20 more per year for their car registrations under a new city budget passed by the city's Metro Council last night. While the newspaper stories don't mention it, the $20 wheel tax increase may not yet be a done deal. Thanks to bloggers, the citizens of Nashville still have the right under state law to force a referendum on that tax increase via a petition drive. Why do...

Interviewed..., June 28, 2005
I was just interviewed by Michael Davis of the Chattanooga Times Free Press regarding blogs and their impact on Tennessee politics. When the story comes out, I'll let you know - but I won't be able to link to it because the paper locks their online content behind a pay screen....

Statesmen Dinner, June 17, 2005
Looks like I might soon have the chance to meet Rob Huddleston, Knoxville's best new political blogger, as we'll both be at the Tennessee Republican Party's 2005 Statesmen Dinner Saturday night. I won't be live-blogging the event out of courtesy to my wife, who would be embarrassed, and my father-in-law, a former state party chairman who provided the tickets. But I may sneak my camera in, and a tiny digital audio recorder, and post some...

Legal Tips for Bloggers, June 16, 2005
The Electronic Frontier Foundation has released a legal guide for blogger-journalists covering such topics as legal liability, defamation law, use of confidential sources, intellectual property law, media access, privacy and more....

Let's Do Lunch, June 15, 2005
Nashville and Tennessee political bloggers interested in getting together for lunch once a month please email me at bill-at-billhobbs-dot-com and let me know if certain days of the week or times would be better than others, and what part of the Nashville area might be the most or least convenient for you. I'm looking for this to be a nonpartisan (or bipartisan or multi-partisan) event. I've also got some ideas for how the entire Nashville...

Chavez: Blogs "Taking Aim" at "Bredesen's Supposed Fix of TennCare", June 15, 2005
Thanks to Tennessean columnist Tim Chavez for the mention in his column today about the battle over TennCare. Chavez mentions this blog and two others (GeoTennCare and Sharon Cobb) as good sources of info on TennCare and Gov. Phil Bredesen's handling there-of....

Campfield On Radio, June 13, 2005
State Rep. Stacey Campfield, Tennessee's first blogging legislator, will be on the radio now through 9 a.m. central time, on Teddy Bart's Round Table, 1160 AM. You can listen online live here. I've been on that show and it's a lot of fun, or it can be otherwise. I'm listening live for a few minutes and Democratic political consultant Ben Chao just admitted he doesn't read blogs, while Republican political consultant says blogs are important....

Why More Legislators Should Blog, June 10, 2005
A legislator's blog affects change. If you're one of 130 members of the 132-member Tennessee legislature (House and Senate) that still don't have a blog, you ought to check out the VolPols.com project and then contact me at volpols@gmail.com to get your blog started. It's free, non-partisan, loads of fun and a very effective way to communicate with constituents and the public....

CNN Eyes the Blogosphere, June 09, 2005
The Time/Warner Division of Turner Broadcasting - which owns CNN - has a job opening for a "Blog Reporter/Producer" to be based in Washington, DC....

Building a Bigger, Better Nashville Blogosphere, June 07, 2005
Terry Heaton says the number of Nashville bloggers has doubled in the past four months. I was speaking to some Nashville political bloggers earlier today and said, half-seriously, that I longed for the day when there were 50 Nashville political bloggers doing what I do, so I could stop. There aren't 50 yet, but one day there will be, and I'd like to help new bloggers get up and bloggin, and existing Nashville blogs get...

Live Blogging, June 07, 2005
It's 2:18 p.m. and I'm sitting outside at Bongo Java with a group of Tennessee bloggers along with Lawrence Reed, president of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy; Drew Johnson, president of the Tennessee Center for Policy Research; and New York Times reporter Jason DeParle. We're discussing issues of open government, public policy, and blogging. There's also a photographer here shooting for the NYT. UPDATE: Blake Wylie was there too, and live-blogged it. Matt White...

Return to BlogNashville, June 07, 2005
I have - finally - gotten around to downloading and editing and posting a selection of photos from the BlogNashville conference. [Hey ... it was only a month ago!]. They're all posted in the extended-entry portion of this post. All images are approximately double in size if if right-clicked for downloading to your PC available, and hi-res versions are available if you need one....

Podcasts from the Governor, June 03, 2005
The state of Tennessee's official website has had a facelift, and the site now offers RSS feeds of Gov. Phil Bredesen's blog (not updated since shortly after the dinosaurs died off), as well as podcasts of various Bredesen statements and such. You can hear the audio of his recent statement on the indictments of four members of the state legislature here in an Mp3 file....

Tell the FEC To Stop Trying to Regulate Blogs, June 03, 2005
Today is the final day to submit comments to the FEC regarding proposed regulation of political blogs and their connections to political campaigns. Mike Krempasky of RedState and The Online Coalition, which formed to fight FEC regulation of blogs, says that the FEC's proposed would make bloggers the most regulated form of media. Glenn Reynolds has more, as does Mark Tapscott. The proposed FEC rule is here, and you can submit comments here. I can't...

"A sea change in the way news is disseminated.", June 01, 2005
Today's Nashville City Paper has an editorial noting the role bloggers played in quickly disseminating news of last week's stunning arrests of four members of the Tennessee legislature on federal corruption charges as a result of the two-year FBI undercover probe called "Tennessee Waltz."The revelations of Operation Tennessee Waltz last week came swiftly and stunningly. How they came was via one of the older forms of mass communication and one of the newest. ... one...

Set Up For Failure?, May 31, 2005
The College of Mass Communications at Middle Tennessee State University, which boasts that it is the second largest college of mass comm in the nation, has announced that it has assembled "a board of distinguished television, journalism and music professionals" to serve as a "Board of Visitors" whill will offer their expertise to the college for the next two years. The group includes "such notables as chairman emeritus for the USA Today John Seigenthaler, Hollywood...

Smoke-Filled Room Update, May 24, 2005
The Tennessean has a report on the two secret closed-to-the-public meetings held by the state Senate Finance Committee, in violation of their own rules, in order to make decisions about various budget matters. State Sen. Roy Herron, one of the senators who attended those secret meetings, is coming in for some well-deserved abuse in an editorial in today's Tennessean about the secret meetings:Herron described the meeting as a get-together among "friends." Yeah, right. "Friends" who...

"It's a Web site.", May 22, 2005
Michael Silence has some thoughts about blogging in a perspective piece in the Sunday Knoxville News Sentinel reflecting on the recent BlogNashville conference.Blog is a contraction for "Web log," an online diary with emphasis on immediacy, commentary and reader interaction. More concise, as Franklin, Tenn., blogger Bill Hobbs (www.billhobbs.com) said at the conference, "It's a Web site." In Tennessee, there are some excellent examples of blogs. In addition to Hobbs, there's South Knox Bubba, www.southknoxbubba.net/skblog/;...

Impact, May 20, 2005
State Rep. Stacey Campfield, Tennessee's first blogging state legislator, notes some specific impact blogs are having on the legislative process in Tennessee. It's all good....

Welcome To Nashville, May 19, 2005
Paul Lewis, a writer for the GOP Bloggers blog (the post-election successor to the very popular and influential BlogsForBush.com), reports that he is moving to Nashville. He'll make a fine addition to the Nashville and Tennessee blogosphere....

Radio Interview, May 18, 2005
I have just posted over at VolPols.com the entire audio of the recent interview I gave Knoxville radio news reporter Christine Jessel of WNOX and WIVK regarding Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen's new blog, the VolPols.com project and the general topic of lawmakers blogging. I thought Jessel did a very solid job on the stories she aired based on the interview, I decided to go ahead and post the audio of the entire interview not because...

Bredesen Blogs, May 18, 2005
Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen actually posted his first-ever blog entry last night. He says all of the postings will be written by him, and won't be recycled press releases.When we put up the new web site containing a Phil blog last week, I didn’t expect that it would create the buzz that it has. Since Monday, I’ve heard from TV, newspapers, people on the street, emails, and lots of traffic in the blogosphere (reported to...

Kill Bill Bash Blog, May 18, 2005
Tennessee's only blogging state legislator, Rep. Stacey Campfield, R-Knoxville, reports on the death of his proposed ethics legislation in a House subcommittee, where some of the Democrats on the subcommittee took jabs at Campfield's blog:The bill was killed - all Republicans voted yes to save it, Democrats voted no. As I was thanking the committee, a State Representative on the committee(I believe it was Rep. Jones) laughed and said something to the effect of "go...

Hooker Blogging, May 17, 2005
The Nashville City Paper turns in a cool story about John Jay Hooker's new blog, which he started just days after attending the BlogNashville conference."A short exposure to the convention convinced me that the Internet may save the Democracy in that it is a way for the people, for the citizens, to have some direct influence on the government," he said. "And it enhances a person’s vote in that it gives you the opportunity to...

On Blogs and Governing, May 15, 2005
I was interviewed Friday by Christopher Swope, a reporter for Governing magazine, on the growing role of blogs in state legislative matters. Part of our discussion focused on whether blogs are filling a growing gap in statehouse coverage left by newspapers that have reduced their presence and coverage of such things. Yes, I got in a plug for the VolPols project. Swope later emailed me a link to this related article from the July/August 1998...

Traffic Jammin', May 13, 2005
A website I've never heard of called "HundredPercenter" has analyzed SiteMeter stats for a representative sample of 100 political weblogs and found that, post-election, their traffic is down by an average 17.7 percent, but traffic at blogs overall is still soaring. [Hat tip: Jim Brown]Recent reports indicate that traditional newspaper sales are way down and radio audiences are tuning out. One of the explanations has been the expansion of the internet, specifically the blogosphere. However,...

The Scene Does BlogNashville, May 11, 2005
The Nashville Scene's cover story on the BlogNashville conference is now online, and it's a good read. Writer Brittney Gilbert - a freelance writer and blogger who recently was hired by WKRN to run their new blog Nashville Is Talking, skips trying to capture the conference in all its complexity and diversity of content and instead uses the very self-reflxive nature of the conference - bloggers blogging about bloggers and blogging - to explore whether...

On the Governor's Blog, May 11, 2005
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. There are four versions of the story in the file, which runs about four minutes. I especially like the way Jessel described the blogosphere as an online discussion. One minor correction: two of...

Radio Interview, May 10, 2005
I just had a very enjoyable interview with Christine Jessell (sp?) of WNOX (NewsTalk99) and WIVK radio in Knoxville about Gov. Phil Bredesen's new blog, and the related topic of legislators blogging. I put in a plug for VolPols.com. I think the story airs tomorrow. The reporter promised to email me a transcript and - possibly - an Mp3 file....

Bredesen's Blog, May 10, 2005
More reaction from around the blogosphere to the news that Tennessee's Gov. Phil Bredesen has started a blog. But first, Chris Bundgaard's WKRN News 2 story on Bredesen's new blog is hilarious. Text and video link here.With the governor now joining Rep. Campfield, is blogging now the future up on Capitol Hill? "Probably not," said Sen. Tim Burchett. "I really don't have the time to fool with it, to tell you the truth."Sen. Burchett, a...

Welcome to the Blogosphere, Governor, May 09, 2005
Tennessee's Gov. Phil Bredesen has started a blog. [Hat tip: Blake Wylie.] Welcome to the blogosphere, Gov. Bredesen. Now, make it interactive by adding a comments feature. Don't be afraid to let the public post comments on your blog! And, er, where's the RSS feed? As for Tennessee's state legislators, they can all start blogs at VolPols.com for free if they so desire. I'll have some more news on that in a few days. Re...

BlogNashville News Coverage, May 07, 2005
The Associated Press has a story on BlogNashville. Check it out here at the Editor & Publisher website or via this Google News search - it has run in print or online at more than 100 newspaper and media outlets including Business Week, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, San Jose Mercury News, Kansas City Star, Orlanda Sentinel, Baltimore Sun, the South Africa's Independent Online, and numerous smaller papers. By the...

Dictator Update: A Political Postmortem, May 04, 2005
Matt White has penned a must-read post-mortem on Tennessee House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh and the political shootout over House Bill 0887. White writes from the perspective of someone who, until very recently, worked in the state legislature and was in a position to observe up close how Naifeh operates.The episode is representative of all that is wrong with House Democratic Leadership in general and Jimmy Naifeh, in particular. They feel like they live under a...

Dictator UPDATE: WSMV's Bias is Showing, May 04, 2005
All of the facts are available to any journalist wanting to report the truth of what happened last week in the Tennessee legislature when House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh broke House rules in order to kill HB 0887, a gun-rights bill he opposes. The video of the April 27 and April 28 sessions are online, as are numerous facts about the case brought out by several enterprising bloggers and other citizens seeking the truth. So, then,...

More Blogging Legislators?, May 03, 2005
Well, this certainly looks interesting. Now ... which state legislators will have the courage of their ideas and the faith in their beliefs to participate? UPDATE: SKB, that super-cyber-sleuth, revealed in the comments that I'm behind VolPols.com. He's right. He did a WHOIS look-up, I guess. Or a little bird told him. He scooped the story. Who says bloggers don't do original reporting? At any rate, here's more info to augment the "teaser" I started...

The Right Stuff, May 01, 2005
Lefty female Tennessee blogger wants to know, "When will Democrats wake up and blog?"...

Dictator, April 27, 2005
Tennessee's only blogging legislator, State Rep. Stacey Campfield, R-Knoxville, blows the whistle on House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh, who found a way to cheat the legislative system. Blake Wylie also has two must-read posts on Naifeh's shenanigans, here and a follow-up here. What Naifeh did was this: He violated House rules in order to kill popular legislation he personally opposed. Some people think Naifeh is the epitome of corrupt good-ol-boy lobbyist-larded politics. I don't know about...

Online Freedom Of Speech Update, April 22, 2005
Mike Krempasky reports good news in the effort to pass legislation to protect bloggers from regulation by the Federal Election Commission....

BlogNashville Reaches Knoxville, April 19, 2005
Today's Knoxville News Sentinel has a big advance report on BlogNashville, the big bloggers conference coming to Nashville May 5-7. The story is by Michael Silence, the most blog-savvy newspaper reporter in Tennessee. Silence's online producer is already scheduled to attend BlogNashville, and Silence is making plans to attend as well. As of now, the only Nashville newspaper reporter or editor who has said he plans to attend is the Nashville City Paper's Don Mooradian....

Blogging the Tennessee Legislature's Ethics Debate, April 18, 2005
Today's Tennessean article on legislative ethics reform quotes local blogger Matthew White.Matthew White is a Nashville-based blogger behind www.southendgrounds.com, a political blog with a baseball theme. He's been following the ethics debate at the statehouse like a catcher watches a pop fly. The way he reads the legislation, lawmakers' ethics efforts are more show than substance. "Given the leadership's past, they will run to the water's edge and stop," he said. They will do "just...

A Thousand Flowers Not Yet Blooming, April 14, 2005
Brian Mosely of the Shelbyville Times-Gazette nails it in a very inciteful commentary about ethics scandals in the Tennessee legislature, and the flak that freshman state Rep. Stacey Campfield, a Knoxville Republican, got from House Democrats because he started a blog about the legislature - and posted a political joke he'd recieved via email that wasn't flattering to Democrats:Usually, when you began to take flak, you're probably over the target. Campfield also believes that other...

Smokey the Blogging Bear, April 13, 2005
You can help prevent the small flickering smolder of the Federal Election Commission's move toward regulating political speech on the Internet from exploding into a raging conflagration of regulation, by calling your Congress critter and senators and urging them to support new legislation sponsored by U.S. Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, and Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nevada, that would block the FEC from regulating online political speech. Mike Krempasky over at RedState.org writes:Today in the House of...

A Documentary on the Blogosphere, April 08, 2005
A documentary film crew is coming to the BlogNashville conference, May 5-7 .If you aren't already registered, you should hurry - over half of the 300 available slots are already taken....

The Revolution Will Be Delayed, April 06, 2005
Here's an update on my goal of getting more members of the Tennessee legislature to write blogs. On March 31, I sent the following email to every single Republican member of the state House of Representatives - 47 legislators - inviting them to join the information revolution known as the blogosphere:Dear Republican State Representatives, With apologies for the form-letter nature of this email, I would like to offer my services to you should you wish...

MBA Nominated for "Freedom of Expression" Award, April 06, 2005
The new Media Bloggers Association, of which I am a member, has been nominated for a Freedom of Expression award by Reporters Without Borders. MBA founder Robert Cox emails:Some of the work done by the MBA to merit this nomination are known while others are not known except to a few including Julien at RSF who put the MBA in for nomination. Known efforts include the Tsunami Video Hosting Initiative and the Legal Defense Initiative...

How A Blog Swarm Stopped the FEC's Evil Plan, April 01, 2005
Don't miss the National Journal's comprehensive report on how the blogosphere beat back a plan by the Federal Election Commission to muzzle free political speech on blogs in the name of "campaign finance reform." Also, sort of related, I blogged about it last night, but it's already way down the page, so I want to again urge you to read Frank Cagle's column in Knoxville's Metro Pulse predicting blogs are going to play a major...

Legislator Blog Flap Update, March 31, 2005
The Memphis Commercial Appeal opined today about state Rep. Stacey Campfield's blog and the flap it has caused. Good snippet:Campfield's critics say the blog is full of unfair and malicious attacks on Democrats, which violates the decorum required of lawmakers. All of that may be true but there's still a free speech issue involved. Blogs have become a popular forum where ordinary citizens can go onto the Internet and express their views. Campfield didn't waive...

Blogs To Set Pace in '06 Race, March 31, 2005
Frank Cagle believes blogs will set the pace in media coverage of the 2006 Senate race in Tennessee.The growth of weblogs and their growing audience has created a wild card in the arena of ideas, especially political ideas. The gatekeepers are still there, but the back door is open. The Tennessee elections of 2006 will be the first statewide elections in which critical mass has been achieved, so that established blogs, e-mail newsletters and websites...

Will The Tennessean Embrace Blogs?, March 31, 2005
A Tennessean editorial on the flap over state Rep. Stacey Campfield's blog calls Democrats "petty" for killing one of Rep. Campfield's bills because they don't like his blog - and tells Tennessee legislators to "get with it: Bloggers are here to stay." In fact, the paper seems to like the idea of legislators blogging:Free speech should be welcomed in a stuffy General Assembly that hasn't always embraced it. The only caveat should be civility.True....

Legislator Blog Flap Postscript, March 30, 2005
I would be remiss if I didn't mention how WKRN handled the story of the Tennessee legislator whose blog has riled the leadership of the state legislature. WKRN is more blog-savvy than the other teevee news operations, and it shows. Not only did the station run the AP story on its website, it ran a sidebar with links to blogosphere reaction to the story, including to my post from this morning. Click the thumbnail to...

Something For You, March 30, 2005
Already, as of Wednesday night, 115 people have registered for the big HUGE BlogNashville conference May 5-7 . All events on Thursday, May 5, and most on Friday, May 6, are for a limited number of members of the Media Bloggers Association, but the events on Friday night and Saturday, May 7, are geared toward larger crowds. Registration is capped at 300 for the Saturday sessions. The Friday night panel discussion about journalism and blogging,...

Lawmaker's blog "raises hackles on the Hill", March 30, 2005
The Tennessean reports on a state legislator's new blog that "raises hackles on the Hill" - and how House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh had one of Rep. Stacey Campfield's bills sent to a committee to die because Campfield had the nerve to start writing a blog about the goings-on in the legislature. (I'm quoted in the story and Matt White's blog gets a mention.) Naifeh isn't the only politician looking petty in the story. State Rep....

The First Five Freedoms, March 28, 2005
Today I attended a talk by John Seigenthaler, former longtime editor of Nashville's The Tennessean newspapaper and founder of the First Amendment Center , in which he noted that surveys done by the Center find that only about 1 in 100 Americans can name all five freedoms enshrined in the First Amendment. Can you name them? Try - and then click "read more" for the answers, and for the rest of this blog post. (Please...