Saturday, June 02, 2007

Does credibility matter in the blogosphere?

Jason Kenney at J’s Notes pulls the curtain back on a somewhat convoluted story about a specific set of circumstances in a particular race. But it’s also a story about whether credibility, ethics or just common decency in the political blogosphere are concepts that will ever really matter.

When such lofty thinking is openly sneered at by some of its most important players, can the Virginia political blogosphere police itself? Click here to read “Ben Tribbett And A Crisis Of Credibility.”

Tribbett's blog, Not Larry Sabato, is a web site popular for publishing gossipy tidbits about political camps and other bloggers, plus its rather mean-spirited comments section. Supposedly, it is published from an Democratic insider's point of view, but its actual motives frequently seem open to question.

2 comments:

Staff said...

I know you've become close with Jason through your efforts to promote Richmond blogging and I applaud your anility to work across the aisle.

But surely the fact that Jason Kenney, the "J" in "J's Notes," is Shaun Kenney's little brother is a relevant fact that you should take note of.

I don't blame Jason for defending his brother, but Shaun Kenney's actions in this affair don't really strike me as being entirely above reproach.

F.T. Rea said...

Richmond Democrat,

Close to Jason Kenney?

I’m not sure what that means. I met Jason when we attended a meeting in April. Over the last several months we’ve exchanged a few emails, mostly about local blogging. His blog seems worthwhile. What I know about him is easy to like, so far.

That Jason is a Republican hasn’t been an issue in what we’ve discussed. Therefore, there really hasn’t been much of an aisle to work across. Fact is, I don’t look at all things under the sun as being partisan in nature.

Why you would say I need to take note of (or perhaps point out) the fact Jason is Shaun’s brother doesn’t make sense to me. That is, unless you saying Jason doesn’t really care about the ethical considerations he brings up, because all he’s really up to is defending his brother, right or wrong.

In fact, if you’ll read my post, again, I think you’ll see that I don’t take sides in this dispute at all. Truth is, I can’t, because I don’t know enough about it.

What I did say is what the controversy touches on, in a general sense. And, I said something about the Not Larry Sabato blog.

I don’t know Ben Tribbett, but I am not a fan of his blog’s bitchy style. Nor do I feel compelled to suck up to him, as some others who call themselves Democrats seem to.

Why any thoughtful Democrat who believes in fair play and doing the right thing continues to act as if NLS is good for the party, or the blogosphere, is a mystery to me.

It’s also almost a mystery to me why you would care what’s posted on a blog with the lack of “influence” of SLANTblog. By NLS’s metal blog ratings, and the much-discussed ratings of Blognet News, and your own system, what I have to say here is falling on deaf ears, anyway.