Blogging and Congress
I just read Molly Chapman Norton's article on Congressional blogging and I think that some interesting points are raised. While Norton says that many on the Hill resist the use of blogs because they are hard to use for spin, I think that there are other reasons behind only a few people in power using blogs to get their messages out.
For one, I think that there is always a resistance to dive into the unknown in any field. Blogs are a fairly new technology and many in Congress are probably going to resist blog use until they become too important and essential to ignore.
Secondly, members of Congress may feel that blogs will put too much information in the public's view which would hold officials more accountable and susceptible to attack. Opponents of members of Congress could attack a member on their own blog. This lack of control may scare of many members who would otherwise like to have with their constituents the type of dialogue that blogs can provide.
What is clear is that blogs are the wave of the future and that many in Congress will move to using this medium. The attention that Conyers is getting on his blog is proof enough that Congress needs to make the move online and become more accessible to their constituents.
For one, I think that there is always a resistance to dive into the unknown in any field. Blogs are a fairly new technology and many in Congress are probably going to resist blog use until they become too important and essential to ignore.
Secondly, members of Congress may feel that blogs will put too much information in the public's view which would hold officials more accountable and susceptible to attack. Opponents of members of Congress could attack a member on their own blog. This lack of control may scare of many members who would otherwise like to have with their constituents the type of dialogue that blogs can provide.
What is clear is that blogs are the wave of the future and that many in Congress will move to using this medium. The attention that Conyers is getting on his blog is proof enough that Congress needs to make the move online and become more accessible to their constituents.
1 Comments:
Nice post I Like Snacks. I agree with you that it is not enough to say that blogging might make spinning more difficult and believe there are other reasons that Congressional offices are not using blogs. I think you make a great point when you say that Congress resists diving into anything that much change the field.
The notion that blogging might lead to too much information being public is a good point as well. Congress would never want to set itself up for attack against it and blogging might make a member feel less in control.
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