Newspapers

This diary will be updated daily with links to five newspaper articles related to the 2008 presidential campaign.

See HERE for background and the list of newspapers involved.

Articles:

This diary will be updated daily with links to five newspaper articles related to the 2008 presidential campaign.

See HERE for background and the list of newspapers involved.

Articles:

Hi all, I'm starting a new election project to get people involved in local newspaper coverage of the presidential election. I'm cross-posting this from over at openLeft. I hope you'll join in the effort.

(cross-posted from openLeft.com)
I'm proud to announce the launch of the Swing State Newspaper Project (apologies to Swing State Project for the similarity of the name), with the initial targeting diary HERE.

The idea came about in the American Blogger series initiated by Paul Rosenberg. You can jump right in by clicking the link if you want to, but to get yourself grounded, especially if you're not familiar with idea, or need a refresher, this diary explains it all for you.

Here was the original impetus for the idea,

If you've ever spent time reading local and regional newspaper sites on the internet, you've probably noticed a disturbing phenomenon; right-wingers have run amok in the comments sections of the newspapers. Progressives may rule blogs and online fundraising and organizing, but when it comes to influencing more traditional media, even if it's in an internet forum, we lag behind. Sometimes far behind. This becomes increasingly problematic as we draw closer to the election. Many more voters read online newspapers than read blogs. So it becomes very important to not only rebut these ignoramuses, but to provide additional context and knock down bad information in news articles covering the presidential race.

To combat this I suggested we monitor online newspaper sites in key swing states until the election. Readers would comment on stories, knock down attacks, add truth to the discussion, and in many cases, contact reporters directly to encourage better reporting (if they got it wrong) or thank them for outstanding writing (if they got it right).

After getting a lot of good ideas for how to carry this idea forward, I've come up with a plan for how to proceed. We'll see how this goes. It may need to be modified or expanded if the project is a success, but I'm ready to get it started.

Go to the extended entry to see the plan.

Here's a letter-to-the-editor that will be printed in my local paper. Permission hereby granted to use any part or all of it in letters to your hometown papers.

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A smattering of opinion from hither and yon . . .

The Old Reliable has not much of interest to say:

This old world has had a tough year, from the war in Iraq to natural disasters to assassinations to continued tensions in a hundred or so of what the experts call "hot spots." Somehow, and they deserve credit, people in those hot spots manage to find a few joys and a few hopes here and there to keep them going, because they do carry on. And the world keeps spinning. Perhaps that's why, after so many challenges, so many really dire things facing this planet, we trust that it, and we, will endure -- because we have.

We'll endure because . . . we have? Tell it to the dinosaurs, Steve.