The blogshere in Portland is creating a buzz. Online communities such as Blue Oregon (blueoregon.com), and Portland Indymedia (portlandindymedia.org), along with dozens of individual activists, critical thinkers, journalists, and politicians have taken to blogging as a means to communicate and engage the public.
From Mayor Tom Potter's blog, (portlandonline.com/mayor/) to Randy Leonard's posts on Blue Oregon, to Oregon Media Insiders (oregonmediainsiders.com), blogs have become a means to present and discuss varying political ideas and happenings around the city.
"We started a blog for a simple reason to communicate with people," says John Doussard, the communications director with Mayor Tom Potter's office. "The (Web site) gets about 40,000 hits a month. Why not communicate with people through this venue?"
"Open discussion is the heart of a healthy democracy," says Kari Chisholm, co-founder of Blue Oregon and a political consultant and Internet strategist. "I think one of the challenges of politicians blogging is politicians tend to be very cautious," says Chisholm. "Don't show any personality, don't offend anyone, make no enemies. What's so refreshing about Randy Leonard posting (on blue Oregon) is he's clearly doing it without a net."
After several e-mails to Leonard and phone calls to his office, he was unavailable for comment.
"This is one area blogs are an enormous service to the public," says Jeff Alworth with Blue Oregon. "With traditional media, there just aren't the column inches for politicians to get deeply into the issues."
Willamette Weekly has a blog watch and added a comment section to stories online, the Portland Mercury is set to unveil it's own blog this week, and the Portland Tribune recently ran an article featuring Jack (Bogdanski) Bog's Blog at bojack.org. The coverage spurred mixed emotions due to the fact that Jack is known to censer posters who disagree with his blogs.
When asked if Jack's blog was a legitimate source to build a story around, Alworth says, "We're all columnists--offering our opinion on a range of topics. You could frame a story around a (Oregonian columnist) Steve Duin article, so it's legitimate to use Jack Bogdanski, too. Jack doesn't just speak for himself, he speaks as a member of a community who have ongoing discussions. I think that's why newspapers have grown interested in blogs--they act as sounding boards for what their communities are discussing."
Marshall Runkel, director of municipal initiatives with the nonprofit One Economy disagrees.
"There's a difference in being a columnist at a newspaper and being a blogger. A columnist at a newspaper is held to some professional integrity – they have clear rules and responsibilities. The blog world has different rules of conduct. If claiming to talk for the community through a blog, they are only talking for a small fraction of the community. It can create a disproportionate impact on how things are perceived."
Amy Jenniges, News Editor with the Portland Mercury says, she doesn't see blogs affecting the media, but instead, becoming the media. "As a news editor I find myself reading blogs in the same way I read the Oregonian or the Portland Tribune or community newspapers. I read as much as I can to stay informed. If I read a blog about something that happened in North Portland that isn't being covered than I've just become aware of that issue. Still, you have to keep things in context."
Doussard noted that it's important people don't get carried away with the blogging hype. "Blogs are getting a lot of attention right now, but the people that are paying the most attention are reporters and bloggers themselves."
Doussard says local bloggers are not major players in the decision-making process at City Hall.
"It all seems very exciting, but look at the Howard Dean campaign. Bloggers were credited for fundamentally changing politics, but in the end, nothing changed in politics.
"Don't get me wrong, I think it's a great avenue," Doussard said. "I read local blogs. I find them exciting. I just don't see them affecting local politics right now — maybe someday."
"Blogs have certainly broken some news, both nationally and locally, and that certainly has been important," says Mark Zusman, editor with the Willamette Weekly. "But Blogs more often synthesize news that has already been broken, placing events in context, connecting the dots and giving voice to opinions that aren't often expressed. In that sense, blogs are having an effect."
"I'm not sure to what extent low-income folks participate on blogs," says Jonathon, a member of the Portland Indymedia audio collective. Jonathon notes that he doesn't speak directly for Portland Indymedia, an online activist community. "We need to encourage more participation from low-income, and minority groups. Neighborhood community centers are vital. We need more of these with wireless access, free computer classes, and multilingual interface."
Chisholm says poor people blogging need a basic level of access.
"You have to get in front of your computer to be on the Internet, still, the largest blogger tool in the world is blogger.com, and that's free. Someone who lives on the streets who only has access to a computer at the public library can certainly manage a blog."
According to a report put out by One Economy: "About 21 percent of low-income young people have Internet access at home; another 21 percent can only access the internet at school, with 3.47 percent of low-income people only having access to the Internet somewhere outside of the school or home; the public library was one of the most common alternative Internet access locations."
Chisholm says nonprofit organizations are further behind than the private world on the blogsphere.
"It used to be technology was hard, and getting technology to do what you want it to do sometimes is still hard," Chisholm said. "But once you've solved the technology problem — it's how to use that technology to organize and engage people. Most non-profits are still stuck on basic technical questions, and they haven't even thought about strategies."
Both Blue Oregon and Indymedia produce thousands of readers a month. Blue Oregon tends to be more mainstream, while Indymedia prides itself on being a media source that can buck the system.
Blue Oregon was co-founded in July, 2004, by Jeff Alworth, freelance writer and blogger, Kari Chisholm, a internet strategist, and a political consultant, and Jesse Cornett, a former staffer with Senators Ron Wyden and Mark Hatfield, and current candidate for Senate in the 24th district. Since it's inception, the Web site has exploded onto the scene.
A wide variety of people, and professionals regularly contribute to Blue Oregon, including the Secretary of State's Press Secretary, Anne Martens, to Brendon Diaz, a high school student in Portland, to the One True b!X, aka Christopher Frankonis, who broke ground with his popular blog The Portland Communiqué.
Blue Oregon describes itself as a water cooler around which Oregon progressives will gather – a place for news and commentary and sometimes gossip.
"The media generally is covering politics less, and less, at the same time when interest in politics is growing among people," says Chisholm. "Blue Oregon is stepping in, and filling the gap left in the mainstream press."
But Chisholm notes that Blue Oregon is not journalism. "Blue Oregon is about commentary, it's about activism – it's a place to discuss progressive politics and policy. Interests groups have their narrow area of focus, while Blue Oregon is much more broad. It's updated several times a day."
"Indymedia affects the political landscape in that it enables and educates folks about issues that they would not discover through corporate media," says Jonathan. "In the end, it's up to folks to do their homework. You'd better be able to think critically and determine if what is being said makes sense."
"What we're seeing is that the first wave of the Internet was being able to access information that (people) wanted, the second wave of the Internet is pushing out, and publishing information," Chisholm said. "Anyone can publish a blog without any technical skills at all, and make people start thinking. Anyone can earn an audience. Yes, a preexisting reputation helps, yes, money helps, but the reality is, if you're interesting, funny and smart, and you write well - than you will find an audience."