Bye, bye blogging

That's it. A week of blogging about a blogger is already over... For me it was a very interesting experience and I learned a lot about what the blogosphere looked like and how it works. Remember me saying at the beginning of the project:

"When my academic first told me that I would have to create my own blog in the course of the semester I was a little bit upset. I am definitely not a computer expert and I was afraid of sitting in front of my notebook understanding nothing."

In fact, I wrote these sentences just one week ago! I don't call myself a computer expert after one week of blogging but I think that blogging by myself really helped me to understand the New Media in a more authentic way. I really recognized its potential and I will keep in mind what Daily Kos' founder Markos Moulitsas Zúniga said:

"We have the tools now to make up our own minds. [...] Anybody can be a so called expert."

"A world of difference"

Now, I want to present you a very actual blog post written by "Plutonium Page" (alias Page van der Linden) this morning concerning President Obama's State of the Union Address. She concentrates on what Obama said about nuclear weapons control:

"'Even as we prosecute two wars, we are also confronting perhaps the greatest danger to the American people – the threat of nuclear weapons. I have embraced the vision of John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan through a strategy that reverses the spread of these weapons, and seeks a world without them. To reduce our stockpiles and launchers, while ensuring our deterrent, the United States and Russia are completing negotiations on the farthest-reaching arms control treaty in nearly two decades. And at April’s Nuclear Security Summit, we will bring forty-four nations together behind a clear goal: securing all vulnerable nuclear materials around the world in four years, so that they never fall into the hands of terrorists. [...] These diplomatic efforts have also strengthened our hand in dealing with those nations that insist on violating international agreements in pursuit of these weapons. That is why North Korea now faces increased isolation, and stronger sanctions – sanctions that are being vigorously enforced. That is why the international community is more united, and the Islamic Republic of Iran is more isolated. And as Iran’s leaders continue to ignore their obligations, there should be no doubt: they, too, will face growing consequences.'"

In her comment on this speech Page stresses Obama's strong will to say "no" to nuclear weapons. In her opinion his multilateral approach - which means that he is open to discussing this issue with other countries in order to find a cooperative way to solve the problem of nuclear threat - embodies a "world of difference" (especially after Bush's egoistic unilaterialism).
This post is a typical example of Daily Kos being a biased blog. Obviously, "Plutonium Page" favors Obama and his in this case foreign and security policy. For me it was very interesting to read this post because the German journalists did not present Obama's speech in such a positive way. Many of them stated that the Americans would be tired of Obama talking about what to do instead of doing it. For me this clarifies that even if Daily Kos is not representative for the rest of the US these German reports show how important the cultural context is in which information is interpreted. In the end, I did at least learn this: If you want to know what the Americans think ask the Americans!

The secret of success

Today I found a very interesting video on YouTube. It shows Daily Kos' founder Markos Moulitsas Zúniga talking about the importance of the New Media for our society. He claims that Daily Kos' secret of success is not based on money or any influential background the bloggers have but because they worked hard and are right in many political assumptions. In his opinion, this is the great advantage of the New Media:

"We have the tools now to make up our own minds."

He asserts that we were no longer dependent on the so called experts to tell us what to think and what to say and what to believe. Zúniga refers to the internet as the source for checking information. Whether one takes a look at articles on Wikipedia or on Google News or whether you watch a short video on YouTube...
I personally do totally share his opinion. The internet gives every citizen the possibility to accumulate knowledge about every topic he or she wants to. It's like Zúniga says:

"Anybody can be a so called expert."

And it's so easy. One klick and you've got it... I think that is a great opportunity especially for those people who live in an autocratic regime with a censorship. You can state your opinion freely (more or less) and you do not have to let the others indoctrinate you. Let's use the internet for democracy!

Svetlana, what do you think?;-)

Money, money, money

Today I found something that seems to be very ridiculous to me. Or are you thinking about buying a T-shirt on which the name of your favorite blog is printed? Does that make any sense? Are there really people who buy these ordinary light brown shirts? I'm sorry, but there must be at least some idiots who buy this stuff. And other shopping addicts will be satisfied, too. Daily Kos Store offers a lot. Take a look at the picture above. What do you see? An ordinary polo-type shirt? No, take a closer look. Have you got it? Yes, something is different. D A I L Y K O S is written on it! Incredible! But pay attention on what Daily Kos states:

"VERY LIMITED QUANTITY! We had a lot of requests for "work-wear" shirts, and this should work for your 'casual fridays'."

So, what are you waiting for? Klick on the "buy" button and enjoy your 'casual friday'! But at first: $24,50, please...

Scandalous

In my last post I presented Daily Kos' authors and stated that they are the main reason for me to say that the blog is "authentic, reliable and well-balanced". But today I read something that questions my previous assumption. In 2003 the Howard Dean campaign (klick here to hear the legendary "Dean Scream") retained Daily Kos' founder Markos Moulitsas Zúniga as a technical advisor. Zephyr Teachout who directed internet organizing for Howard Dean's 2004 presidential campaign told The Wall Street Journal more about her motivations behind this appointment:

"On Dean’s campaign, we paid Markos [...] as consultant, largely in order to ensure that he said positive things about Dean. We paid him over twice as much as we paid one staffer of similar background [...]. While he ended up also providing useful advice, the initial reason for our outreach was explicitly to buy his airtime. To be very clear, he never committed to supporting Dean for the payment — but it was very clearly, internally, our goal."

Incredible. I never expected this to happen. Although one could admit that bloggers aren't journalists and therefore shouldn't be seen as "objective" observers, I think that stinks. I know that Daily Kos is biased and that most authors favor Obama but on the whole I always had the feeling that there would be at least some distance between the politicians and the bloggers. I feel betrayed somehow. I will definitely judge the next Daily Kos posts from a different point of view...

Who is who

Today I want to dedicate this post to the bloggers who write for Daily Kos. One of the main reasons why I chose this blog was the fact that it is not run by a single person. When Markos Moulitsas Zúniga (> picture on the left hand side) founded Daily Kos in May 26, 2002 many authors joined him. I think, the fact that these authors embody very different professional backgrounds (e.g. actor, playwright, attorney, doctor, housewife, ...) and come from different areas in the US (e.g. California, Ohia, Washington, New Mexico, ...) enriches the blog. It makes the blog more authentic, reliable and well-balanced. I really like the possibility to choose among a great variety of standpoints.
But although there are so many differences, most of Daily Kos' bloggers have one standpoint in common that keeps them together - they favor Obama. Every day Daily Kos publishes the "State of the nation poll" which illustrates Obama's popularity. Today the poll says that 54 % of the participators favor Obama. Let's wait and see how it will be tommorrow...

At first

When my academic first told me that I would have to create my own blog in the course of the semester I was a little bit upset. I am definitely not a computer expert and I was afraid of sitting in front of my notebook understanding nothing. But with the help of the easy instructions on blogger.com even I could finally create my first own blog. So thanks to blogger.com!

But now, let me tell you who I am and what this blog is about.
My name is Anna-Maria Kramer and I am studying journalism at the TU Dortmund in my third semester. I chose AMK as pseudonym because it was my nickname in my basketball team at school. Cool, he?;-)
I created this blog in the context of the course "The 2008 Elections: US Political Culture and the New Media". The topic was "Blogging about a blogger" and I chose "Daily Kos" - one of the most famous political blogs in the US. I really liked the idea of dealing with a blog that has a certain influence in the blogosphere. Daily Kos proudly states: "Among luminaries posting diaries on the site are President Jimmy Carter, Senator Barack Obama, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and dozens of other senators, congressmen, and governors." In addition, it has 2.5 million unique visitors per month and 215,000 registered users. The blog has eight paid staffers and about 30 constant writers. It has its own TV program and publishes its own daily "State of the nation poll" which illustrates Obama's actual popularity among the Americans.
As you can see there are a lot of things to discover during my "Daily-Kos-week" and I would like you to join me. See you tommorrow!


P.S.:Before you go on reading my posts it is important to keep in mind that Daily Kos is a biased blog. Most of the authors favor Obama.