Bloggers’ convention assignment desk
: I decided not to apply for credentials to blog the Democratic convention (though, months ago, I had planned to) first because I think citizens who have not had the privilege of getting behind such velvet ropes (as I have had) should now be allowed in, and second because I fear I’m tainted by too many years in the j-biz: I’m afraid I might by reflex still act like a reporter. And that’s not what I want to see from bloggers at the conventions. I want to see the stories the reporters are too jaded and predictable to find; I want to hear the viewpoints of real people in the halls of power; I also don’t want more of the same, old, boring thing from this nonevent. So here’s my request to the bloggers who get in:
1. Do not cover anything we can see on TV: not a single speech.
2. Do give us your perspective as a citizen: be opinionated and, when deserved, cynical.
3. Do report on the reporters: Expose the tricks of their trade.
4. Do take assignments from your readers: ask the questions the people who can’t be there would ask (that, after all, is the real job of reporters, isn’t it?).
5. Do not take it too seriously. This is a nonevent, a media event, a carnival. Treat it as the amusement it is.
: Jay Rosen says he’s thinking about applying for credentials. He should. It’d be great to have a smart perspective of this all-in-all dumb event.
