DNC To Bloggers: Drop Dead!
By - Colby and Beyond blog
well... not exactly but close:
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It seems that the DNC uninvited 20 bloggers who had originally received press credentials for covering the DNC Convention in Beantown.
The main-stream press (IBD & Boston Herald) is starting to pick up on the story and allegations have been made that the DNC reviewed some sites they previously allowed and rescinded the invitations for ideological reasons.
Buzzmachine has a reasonable solution.
The DNC should release the following:
1. Bloggers invited
2. Bloggers not invited
3. Bloggers disinvited.
Then let everyone come to their own conclusion as to whether the 'disinvites' were ideological.
DNC blocks some blog journos<font size=3>
By Associated Press
Saturday, July 10, 2004
NEW YORK - <font size=4>Some would-be Democratic National Convention bloggers got a nasty surprise this week: They were disinvited after being told they were in.
Washington blogger Bill Ardolino, who runs INDC Journal from the nation's capital, said he's out nearly $1,000 for hotel and travel accommodations booked after he got an approval letter Tuesday. On Wednesday, he said he got an e-mail disinviting him.
Ardolino, 28, acknowledges he's an <font color=blue>``outspoken critic''<font color=black> of Democratic standard bearer John Kerry [related, bio].
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``I certainly have the suspicion that it's because of the nature of my site,'' Ardolino said. ``The whole thing is unprofessional. They've really messed up what could have generated a lot of good will in the blogosphere.''
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Convention spokeswoman Peggy Wilhide said some approval letters were sent by mistake. She blamed a computer error.
Wilhide said only two of the 20 bloggers disinvited maintain ``right-leaning'' blogs. She said at least one such ``right-leaning'' blog, Oxblog, wasn't disinvited - though the credentialed co-founder, Patrick Belton, is a Democrat and self-described centrist.
More than 30 keepers of Internet Web logs, or blogs, were accredited to attend the DNC as journalists, organizers said yesterday. Republicans said they expect to credential 10 to 20 bloggers.
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Wilhide said the DNC-approved bloggers included the Democratic-leaning Burnt Orange Report, Daily Kos, Pandagon.net and TalkLeft. <font size=3>
It's the first time bloggers will be joining the thousands of newspaper, magazine and broadcast journalists at the quadrennial presidential-nomination events.
Some 200 bloggers had sought DNC credentials. Their blogs were screened for originality, readership level and professionalism, DNC officials say.
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``Some blogs posted like once a month, so obviously those aren't going to qualify,''<font color=black> Wilhide said.
Oxblog's Belton, 28, a doctoral candidate in international relations at Oxford University, said he was <font color=blue>``tickled pink''<font color=black> when he learned that he had been accepted.
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``It will be great fun to participate in the symbolic first convention of the blog,'' said Belton, who said he's now ``trying to scrape the pennies together''<font color=blue> for the trip.
Bloggers will have the same access as traditional journalists within the FleetCenter convention hall, Wilhide said.
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