Web Logs Fertile Ground for Writing Talent

July 28, 2004 — -- By now everyone has heard about the influx of bloggers at this week's Democratic National Convention -- the new world technophiles invaded the most starched of political traditions with great fanfare. But when the gavel sounds on Thursday night and the convention draws to a close, will these cyber-commentators fade back into their niche or can they expect to turn their 15 minutes into something more?

The most popular Web logs reach thousands of readers daily, and the mainstream media has reluctantly begun accepting them as a legitimate, alternate forum for public discourse. The Democratic Party gave press credentials to more than 30 bloggers for the party's convention in Boston this week, and Republicans have said they will do the same for their convention in August.

Apparently, they are being heard. According to blogdex.com, a Web site run by MIT's media laboratory that tracks the fastest-spreading ideas in the blog universe, the site conventionbloggers.com is currently the most linked site on the Web.

"People are recognizing that there is a shift in the way consumers consume media. It's an indication that the parties believe these people will be listened to," said Gaby Darbyshire, director of business development for Gawker Media, which publishes five of the most widely read blogs in the United States.

Web logs, or "blogs," can be the most tedious of cyberfare -- often no more than online diaries of people whose lives weren't nearly as interesting as they thought. But as the blogging fraternity exploded in the past several years its membership diversified to include respected businesses and a range of opinions gaining prominence in the media world.

An eclectic mix of voices now dot a blogging universe that tackles subjects ranging from politics to literature to pop culture. Blogs are being used as a new millennium version of protest, a cyber soapbox gaining a loyal following in a world no longer anxious to stage sit-ins. And businesses are using them as a resourceful way to speak to customers.

For the bloggers themselves, a simple passion for writing has turned many into semi-celebrities, a new brand of writers and entrepreneurs using cheap Web space to forge unusual careers. But can they expect to carve out a living solely on their blogs?

Among the credentialed bloggers at the Democratic convention is 31-year-old Ana Marie Cox, writer of the political gossip blog Wonkette.com. A dot-com castoff, Cox said she was fired from one writing job and asked to leave two others before starting a blog of personal musings that included writing about the build-up to the Iraq war. Professionally, Cox was doing freelance writing when she was contacted in late 2003 by Gawker Media publisher Nick Denton, who hired her to write Wonkette.

The site was born in January. Its combination of suggestive, often lurid headlines, inside information and clever writing has drawn the attention of many in Washington and within the world of journalism.

"I started blogging because I wanted to write about things that interested me. And if I thought something was funny I didn't want to have to call an editor and convince him it was funny," Cox said. "My fantasy came true: that I'd have a blog and someone would pay me for it."

And that's not all she's getting paid for. Wonkette's notoriety led Cox to interview appearances on several cable news stations, and she was recently hired by MTV to do on-air news updates from the Democratic convention.

Like most in the blogging world, her opinions are aired for all to see. An admitted liberal, she makes no pretense for being an objective journalist, a point which has some traditional journalists bemoaning the influx of bloggers at the conventions.

But if their specific role is still debated, the reality of bloggers' inclusion seems a foregone conclusion. Blogs are generally inexpensive, self-financed ventures, meaning there is little to prevent their growth. Writers can pay cheap hosting fees to post blogs, and their readership and influence grow at the will of the market.