Consider this a companion of sorts to the convention center post, to the idea of “the establishment” that exists right now in Lancaster County - and the one that could exist in the future, if anyone here sees that future.
I’ve always been amazed/amused that the forum where opposition to the convention center project is loudest and most insistent has been on the Lancaster Newspapers site itself. I suppose those involved in that opposition see the irony in all this - attempting to take down The Man by using The Man’s web site - but what has really astonished me is that there seems to have been little attempt to make it otherwise.
I’m talking about blogs in particular. Many of the most outspoken and in many cases well-spoken opponents of the convention center project do indeed have their own blogs - Artie See, LancoYokels, Harper and others - and as I’ve said, I’m a fan of those blogs. I read them fairly regularly, in part because I like the idea of blogs, particularly local blogs. But also because they’re pretty good. Artie See has laid out the most comprhensive case against the convention center; LancoYokels does it with just the right amount of snark; and Harper is probably the best investigative reporter in this town, period.
But the thing about these blogs, and about the other local blogs, is that posting is sporadic. A couple of times a week, maybe - at most. More regular is NewsLanc, though it, too, generally only posts a dozen or so times a week. Yet NewsLanc is probably closest to the type of blog that could exist in Lancaster County - that, if it did exist, could exercise a significant impact on the local discourse, just as blogs up there at the national level have begun to impact the national discourse.
There is a blog vacuum here, not in general, but for a specific type of blog - one that posts a dozen or so times per day, is focused relentlessly on local politics and events, one that combines the snark of LancoYokel with the investigative work of Harper. An alternative news source plus, comprehensive, all of it online - all of it interactive.
It would be, really, a local version of Daily Kos. And I’m convinced that there would be a niche for it, a market for it. The problem, of course, is that it would be a tremendous amount of work, and at the beginning at least - though maybe in perpetuity - there wouldn’t be much or any money in it. But over the long term, I’m convinced there could be money in it, and I’m convinced it would succeed - or could succeed, if it were timely, updated constantly, well-written, well-desgined. Professional. And maybe there’s the rub, as blogging tends to be more of a hobby for most people; who has the time to invest in this sort of thing, particularly if it doesn’t pay? Maybe that’s why it hasn’t been done here.
But I’m convinced it will be done, both here and in communities across the country. That’s where this trend goes, where it must go; as Josh Marshall alluded to in the post below, to the extent that citizens want change the technology provides the means by which that change might come, the means by which the status quo might be challenged. So far that challenge has been largely on the national level, but it will filter down, I’m convinced of it. It will be interesting to see who it filters down to - whether it will be one of the players already in the game here, or whether it will be someone else who sees the opportunity fluttering earthward, grabs it and runs with it. And then it could indeed be a whole new ballgame.
