Help Research the Impact of State Blogs
Emily Metzgar, a doctoral student in media and public affairs at LSU in Baton Rouge is researching the impact of blogs on state politics around the country.
She has an online survey for bloggers and blog readers that will be available through June 30. Help her out and take a few minutes to complete the survey online.
You can read a brief profile of her research, and this blog tracks her research as it progresses.
I participated in Emily Metzgar’s survey and then began looking at other information about her and the survey. One thing I found @ http://governing.typepad.com/13thfloor/2007/04/queen_of_the_st.html raises an interesting question in my mind as to whether or not any Alabama bloggers can cite any instances of bloggers here having had an impact on our political process. This is the question she was asked in a Q&A and a portion of her answer:
Q “Have these blogs had much impact on state politics or policy?”
A “In Louisiana the most vivid example I can give is last spring, there was a bill passed by the legislature with only 4 votes opposed, and sent to Governor Blanco for her signature. It turned out the legislation was to provide state legislators and their families lifetime health insurance benefits at the expense of the state.A blogger who was a longtime legislative counsel and definitely well-versed in the legalities of things here in Baton Rouge said this looks like a bad bill and we should ask the governor to veto it. That was on a Monday. And by Thursday afternoon, the governor issued a statement saying that she’d heard the people loud and clear and she’d veto the bill. Between the time the blogger raised the issue and the time the governor vetoed the bill, a number of
legislators changed their votes–that’s something they can do here. And then both the Republican and Democratic parties, though they had both endorsed the bill, came out in opposition.”
Comment by Don — June 16, 2007 @ 7:01 am
Don, that was an interesting story. I saw that question and have considered whether blogs here have had an impact on state politics or state policy. I believe I would conclude that Alabama blogs have some impact on politics and policy because they are at least a part of the state-wide conversations of politics and policy. But I don’t know of an example off-hand as dramatic as the one in Louisiana.
Comment by Danny — June 20, 2007 @ 2:29 pm
Danny, the reason I said in my comment that I thought it raised an interesting question about whether Alabama bloggers have had an effect on our state government is that I thought you might ask bloggers to state their opinions on on that. You know more of them better than I do, so maybe if you ask you’ll get some opinions back that you can use on your blog. I’d like to know what they think.
Comment by Don — June 20, 2007 @ 3:06 pm