February 28, 2005

Post-CPAC

CPAC was the first on-site TAM operation. Going in I didn't know what to expect. I actually did some preparation, but that was wasted in the first few hours. What I did expect was the unexpected.

Let's face it, there wasn't a whole lot of news breaking at CPAC. Both Karl Rove and Vice President Dick Cheney didn't say anything new in their addresses to their conservative supporters. The panels were informative for someone just getting acquainted with issues like new media, stem cell research, and social security reform. For a person like me who's knee-deep in current events and politics this wasn't new stuff. I could have sat in the auditorium (if there was enough room) and filed posts on who said what about whatever, but I would have been bored to tears.

The first rule of TAM is I write about whatever I find interesting. It's up to my readers to decide if I'm either entertaining or informative. It's just like good talk radio yappers. Some talk to lots of people getting scoops to broadcast on their shows. Others just open up the newspaper and comment on stories and op-ed pieces. Some do interviews and have guests while others go it alone. Some focus primarily on politics while others mix it up with sports, entertainment, or cultural issues. I write about political economy broadly defined, but I'll go off on the media, sports, books, and music. I find what I write about almost solely by commenting on MSM stories or other weblogger's posts. I don't report and have never claimed to be a reporter. Once in a blue moon I will do something that slightly resembles what a reporter does--my Dan Flynn interview for example--but I have to write posts about what I'm interested in. Doing straight reporting would wear me out. TAM would suffer if not die. The whole point of this hobby is to force me to write everyday. I mentioned that important word, "hobby." Since I write just to inform/entertain/amuse my readers I don't feel obligated to always offer something hard-hitting or insightful. If someone was paying me I would have taken my time a little more seriously. I would have been duty bound. Of course, if someone was paying me just to do what I do--what freedom--then I would have taken the nonchalant attitude I had.

CPAC was primarily a convention for conservatives. It was an opportunity for people across the country to meet each other, swap stories and ideas, and collaborate on how to improve the movement. The speakers and panels were there to inform, but the more interesting stuff was who was talking to whom about what. In those kind of settings confidences have to be maintained. There may be things I overheard or was told that I can't tell my readers. That would be a breach of trust and harmful to my credibility. In that way I'm similar to MSM reporters and pundits who know far more about stories and issues than they scribble for their readers.

I hope CPAC wasn't thinking they were bringing webloggers to replace the MSM in covering the event. If they really thought news about the conference was inaccurate they could have saved the money from setting up Bloggers Corner and put that into live streaming of speakers and panels over the internet. Anyone interested in what was going on onstage could watch in the comfort of their own home. TAM isn't C-SPAN. If that's what some readers thought they were going to read, they were dissappointed.

If CPAC organizers really wanted webloggers to cover the event they could have helped us snag interviews. A few people wandered by Bloggers Corner, but no big names. It's great CPAC thought enough to invite webloggers, but they should have helped us a little. Few of us had any experience as reporters. It was on day two that I learned there was a media room some speakers entered after giving a speech or doing a panel. When Bob Cox donned a reporter's cap he was razzed by Pat Buchanan for being a weblogger. Like anything, we learn. If I'm lucky enough to go again I might put together a better battleplan.

I think CPAC let the webloggers run loose was to have them connect with conservative activists who see weblogs as a powerful tool. In three days about half a dozen people came to Bloggers Corner and asked me what a weblog was. After I gave them a brief explanation and showed them TAM they could see this was more than a fad. PR people and savvy activists were buttering up the webloggers, handing out business cards, and talking to them about how each individual could best be approached. Weblogging is a new means for getting out conservative messages.

At the webloggers breakfast with the SwiftVets the room was packed with PR people. They were all sizing up the webloggers because they knew from experience with the SwiftVets campaign that weblogs move stories the MSM poo-poos. The next day in my mailbox I was getting stuff about an issue they were working on.

To sum it up, CPAC was more about building connections than the speakers onstage. Activists who only see each other once a year at the conference can meet and strategize, and now they can also meet with pioneers of a new media to advance their cause.

[Added to OTB's Beltway Traffic Jam.]