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Bill Hobbs weighs in on Kleinheider
Posted By katie allison granju
I agree with Hobbs, when he says (scroll down to bottom of the comments):
It’s been a week, and I’ve come to a conclusion about the demise of VolunteerVoters.com. It’s not a big loss. It’s a MAMMOTHLY HUGE loss. There is a giant hole in the media fabric in Tennessee when it comes to political news. VV was the indispensable go-to source for all things political involving Tennessee, and provided depth and context that the various disparate news outlets often lack.
Additionally, while MSM outlets mention or quote from press releases and documents and such, VV often uploaded the whole thing, or gave readers a link to it - making it a far more valuable resource than any single MSM outlet for politics junkies.
It’s a damned shame that WKRN couldn’t figure out how to monetize the single most valuable political news property in the state. Here’s hoping that some other news outlet, one which understands the new media - and the new media consumer - and wants to be an information portal for its readers rather than just an information destination, decides it wants to take over VV, or at least hire Kleinheider to build a VV replacement for them.
And here’s something else that sets new media aprt from old media: Hobbs is a blogger. I am a blogger. Many of those who have publicly mourned the demise of Volunteer Voters are bloggers. But unlike with old media, where the end of a competitor’s run would be a Good Thing, in the world of new media, competition is a truly welcome part of the medium. Blogging is a cooperative medium. Good blogging - especially good political blogging - makes other bloggers even better by enriching the dialogue and moving it forward.
So here’s hoping some media outlet snaps Kleinheider up, like, yesterday. We need him back in the mix ASAP.
Mar 20th, 2008
