Conventions Throw Doors Open to Bloggers - Applications being accepted Dec. 10th - April 15th

Conventions Throw Doors Open to Bloggers

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/25/us/politics/26web-seelye.html?8dpc=&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1196164972-veDl3oBdzbYJ7DnhE28Stg

By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE
Published: November 25, 2007

The Democrats are opening the doors of their convention in Denver next year to more bloggers than ever before. The move gives bloggers and the new media a chance to shine, much as they did at the trial of Scooter Libby earlier this year, and to bring a whole new perspective, and competition, to convention coverage. This is, after all, the first convention since the rise of YouTube.

Bloggers obviously bring a different take — less restrained, more granular, in real time — from that of the mainstream media, and that’s exactly what the Democrats want when they gather at Denver’s Pepsi Center from Aug. 25-28.

“We’re looking to break down the walls of the Pepsi Center,” Jason Rosenberg, the director of online communications for the Democratic National Convention Committee, told me the other day.

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Convention activities will go for 96 hours; with networks no longer providing wall-to-wall coverage and television viewership declining, Mr. Rosenberg hopes bloggers can help kindle excitement about the event and, by extension, about the Democrats themselves.

“Bloggers can give you 24-hour coverage of the convention, of the delegate meetings, of the caucuses, of the parties,” Mr. Rosenberg said. “Everything that goes on, the bloggers can be there to cover.” This includes speeches not delivered in prime time or too late for East Coast print deadlines.

The final number of bloggers has yet to be determined http://demconvention.files.wordpress.com/2007/11/dncc-blogger-credentialing-final-111307.pdf">applications are being accepted between Dec. 10 and April 15. The Democrats are starting a state blogger corps, with credentials going to 56 blogs, one from each state plus the territories. Beyond that, they will credential many more for a general blogger pool made up of local, state and national political blogs as well as video blogs and niche blogs that are not directly about politics but cover the subject in some way.

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