As we just discussed Blogging and online media in lecture, I thought it was appropriate to research that topic in regards to my practicum topic- African Americans online.
In October of 2010, President Obama invited several prominent African American bloggers to the White House for the first African American Online Summit. Mainstream media was not invited and did not even cover the story. I found the story on a blog titles “thephotographer4you”.
Apparently, 20 African Americans that work/write on online were in att
endance, including “representatives of theRoot.com, BET, Essence, Jack & Jill Politics, City Limits, COncrete Loop, AOL Balck Voices, Black America Web and even the gossipy MediaTakeout” (1).
The “thephotographer4you” blogger claims that the mainstream media promote their own agendas and don’t report information that is not mainstream. This guy/girl supports Jenkin’s argument that blogging is helpful to democracy. He/she says, “The media is changing so rapidly that websites, like you guys do every day, do two things. Number one, it allows us to reach audiences that may not be watching Meet The Press. I’m just saying, it might be a different de
mographic. But the second thing is obviously part of what is so powerful about the web, is that it’s not just a one-way conversation" (1).
Something extremely interesting to note is that when I researched this story on Google the two “mainstream” sites that covered it were the NYT’s and Real Clear Politics.com. Real Clear politics took Obama’s quote and stopped after his first point, making the entire article about how Obama said that Black people don;t watch meet the Press. The NYT’s did not write such a slanted article. It was insightful and mostly direct in its writings. However, the NYT’s only wrote the first part of Obama’s quote as well. This further highlights “thephotographer4you” bloggers opinion that the mainstream media does not report a story comprehensively...
This is the link to “thephotgrapher4you” blog: http://thephotographer4you.com/2010/10/13/president-obama-invites-african-american-bloggers-to-the-white-house/
Included are pictures from the first ever African American Online Summit.
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