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May 17, 2004

Nyah!

: Wonkette on my least-favorite TV critic:

So Fox News is demanding that the NYT print some kind of correction to Alessandra Stanley's piece that described the net as "the conservative cable network." The Times's culture editor, Steven Erlanger, sees things differently: "Our decision was that Alessandra, writing as a critic, is well within her rights to call Fox pretty much whatever she wants."

Continued Erlanger: Nyah-nyah-nah-nah!

OK, seriously -- we're confused: Someone's complaining about Fox being called "conservative," but we can't get Erlanger to apologize for calling Stanley a "critic"?

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Travelblog

: Fodors has a travel blog put out by its editors, I hear from one of them, John Rambow. Very nice and smart. One neat little link: Not Fooling Anybody, with pix of fast-food joints transformed.

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Memo to Baghdad bureaus: Get bloggers

: As Howard Kurtz writes today, American reporters in Iraq are pretty much prisoners inside the cloistered confines of the green zone because it's too dangerous to venture out to where the people -- and the news -- are.

So here's a suggestion, guys: Start reading -- and quoting -- Iraqi bloggers.

You should be doing that anyway, since these folks give us a perspective you big-time reporters simply are not giving us. But you should be doing this especially now that you can't get out and report the news.

Of course, these aren't "real journalists." That means they don't have suits and expense accounts. But they have eyes and ears and keyboards and they give us a viewpoint we need to see. So you can issue caveats aplenty.

But then read them. Quote them. Share them. Just go to Zeyad's blog and start clicking on his blogroll to find the brothers Omar, Mohammad and Ali or Ays, Alaa , Raed, Raed's family, River, Firas Georges, Sam , Kurdo's World, Sarmad, and Baghdadi (an Iraqi-American who has been back and forth).

They can see what you can't see, reporters -- and isn't that valuable? They can report what you can't report -- and shouldn't you seek that out? They have a perspective you don't have. Read them. Quote them.

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Who are we?

: Henry Copeland is doing something very important for the business of weblogs (again): He's sponsoring a survey of blog-reader demographics here.
Go take the survey.
At Question #22 please enter buzzmachine. That way, I can get a picture of who you are.
This is something we all talked about at Bloggercon in the session on blogs and business. It is vital that we get a picture of how big this community is and who's in it to get credibility with not only advertisers but also reporters: It's the proof that we're not all just a bunch of 17-year-old cat owners (not that there's anything wrong with that).
Someone we all know is working on another kind of survey that will also be helpful and I'm working on getting some funding to help arrange that. More soon.
In the meantime, go take the survey Henry and Blogads are so generously paying for here.

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Blogs cover gay marriage

MassLive blogger Janis Bohan is covering the start of gay marriages in Northampton:

8 a.m.: Everywhere you look, there are people with cameras and microphones and video cameras. There's also a large gathering of people holding supportive and celebratory signs. Signs like: "Congratulations!", "God Does Not Discriminate," "Love Has No Boundaries," and more.
There is one lone protester, a young man holding a sign that reads "Coulter 3:16." ...

8:20 a.m.: Heidi Norton and Gina Smith (one of the original seven Mass. couples who filed suit for the right to marry back in 2001) just arrived amid wild applause. They have two children, who are decked out in new suits and boutonnieres. This must be an incredible moment for them. Their are tears in their eyes, and their kids are absolutely wired. The Mayor just got here too, hugged them, and went inside with them. In about ten minutes, Heidi and Gina will get their license. They already have their waiver, so they don't have to wait. They'll be married today!

8:50 a.m.: Heidi and Gina just came out of the courthouse, amid thunderous applause and cheers. They're crying, the mayor's crying, everybody's crying. Their kids are grinning from ear to ear, and people are shouting "Thank you!" in unison....
The toothpaste is out of the tube.

: David Weinberger covered the action in Cambridge at midnight:

Then, at midnight, people threw rice, clapped, shouted, cheered. At least one of us laughed and cried at the same time. A chant began further up the hill and I couldn't tell if it was "We are equal" or "We are legal," but, well, that's the point, isn't it?
I'm proud of my state and I'm happy tonight.

: UPDATE: MassLive.com's Scott Brodeur posts pictures and audio interviews with the happy couples.

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Terrorists are flacks
: Doc Searls:

...the Berg beheading was not an act of war; it was an act of publicity.

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Sopranos

: Man, I hate dream sequences. And I hate dream episodes more.

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Travelblogs

: Kunstspaziergaenge has some wonderful shots of art in not only Berlin but also Paris. I wish this guy would come for vacation in New York and bring his camera.
: Sophia Sideshow has some great pictures of Bulgaria.

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