This series of postings will describe my journey to the Democratic National Convention in Boston with media credentials and a seat in the press area of the Fleet Center. Past postings are here:
Day 0 Posting 1 - Blogging: Journalism or Activism or Both?
Day 1 Posting 1 - Arriving in Boston: Saturated Air & U.S. Topography
Day 2 Posting 1 - Clinton a No-Show at Rock the Vote, Disappointed Grassroots Young Dems
Day 2 Posting 2 - a not-so-typical day for delegates and others
Day 3 Posting 1 - Teresa, Hillary, bloggers, and 5000 other "revolutionaries"
I'm writing this posting Tuesday at 11:30 pm from the Media Pavillion, a two-story tent adjacent to the Fleet Center built for members of the writing press. Each news outlet has its own area separated by curtains within the Pavillion complete with nice chairs, long tables, cables to hook up computers, Chinese food, water bottles, and various forms of caffeine. When the Convention takes place each evening, the writing press members watch the Convention on TV sets in the Pavillion. I noticed that the New York Times watches C-SPAN, probably for its unedited direct coverage. Some other outlets watched CNN, which is more pundit-coverage than speech-coverage. Could that lead to press group-think? Even more interesting...
How odd to be sitting here in this tent blogging while the spin on tonight's speeches is created all around me and sent off to the world.
All members of the press, including the bloggers, are given copies of the text of the speeches in advance. I think that leads to some jaded perspective - it makes the scripted aspect of the Convention more conspicuous and it makes one think, "I could just read this, rather than watch the speech delivered." But, blogger Jerome Armstrong thinks that reading the speech while also watching the speech makes the words resonate more deeply. Either way, it's not the same experience that the Delegates or the viewing audience has.
Strange Perspective of Bloggers from the 7th Floor
On the first night of the Convention, volunteers at the Fleet Center tried to shepherd delegates, media, and special guests to various locations through assorted alleyways, secret doors and tunnels, secured locations, escalators, and elevators. I ended up in the "nose bleed" seats on the 7th floor, though I had been promised a seat on the floor in the "writing press" area. As I looked for a good perch on the 7th floor, I discovered the "blogger roost."
The perspective of the Convention from the blogger roost is very distant. The sound travels poorly to the 7th floor and we spent a lot of time asking each other, "What did he just say?" I'm someone who is very moved by political speeches; I often find myself with tears, cheers, and jeers. From the "nose bleed" seats on the 7th floor, the speakers looked like specs and it was hard to even pay attention given all the commotion in the roost (TV news crews doing stories on the bloggers, bloggers meeting each other for the first time, etc.). At moments, I longed for my typical Convention experience of watching a TV set and wondered why I had traveled so far.
The distance from the Convention floor is so great that it almost felt, to me, like we weren't actually at the Convention. I was shocked, though, that no blogger stood during the National Anthem even though the rest of the Convention hall did. The bloggers I know are among the most patriotic Americans around, writing regularly about their vision of what will make America better. Are they too unconventional, though, to stand during the National Anthem, or were they so busy typing in their portable computers perched so high in the building that they didn't notice it was taking place? There was one moment when I was glad to have an aerial view -- during the 9/11 memorial when 20,000 people were given flashlights and the lights in the hall were dimmed with only the picture on the large plasma screen of the former twin towers illuminated with spotlights. It was beautiful and touching. One blogger whispered to me, though, that it was a moment of violins, not a moment of silence since there was musical accompaniment.
I decided to leave our blogger bubble at one point and interviewed some folks in the hallway while they bought concessions (pizza, nachos, and the usual arena snacks). I met a Dean Delegate from Washington who told me about Governor Dean's meeting with his Delegates that afternoon. They asked him how they should cast their vote at the Convention. Dean told them he couldn't tell them what to do because it's an individual decision, but that he was working hard for Kerry. Dean also said he looked forward to a future election when it wasn't necessary to pick the lesser of two evils (keep in mind, this is second-hand reporting, so those might not have been Dean's words). Dean also told his supporters to take a month off after the November election to rest and refuel, then plan to work hard to change the Democratic Party because we have a lot more work left.
Based on the coverage provided by bloggers, it's obvious that other bloggers are traveling around the Convention Hall and the city to get the real stories. The blogger roost is more a place to go to in order to write the stories, and to meet each other outside of cyberspace.
Outside the Blogger Roost
On the second night of the Convention, I sat on the floor in the press area because the volunteers were better trained about who was assigned to sit where. It was an entirely different experience: I could see the speaker, not just the video screen. I could hear the speaker clearly. I could see the Delegates' reactions. I could see the media (Judy Woodruff, Wolfe Blitzer, Jeff Greenfield, Larry King) conducting interviews. I saw Bono, Ben Affleck, and Michael Moore walk through. I saw the inside of the Fox News and CNN suites where interviewees like Ron Reagan Jr. are getting their make-up before interviews. Someone commented that the suites look like diaramas with stuffed people inside. Interestingly, the CNN pundits-- who this year are the first media ever given space on the floor next to the Delegates-- watched the speakers on tiny TV sets rather than turned around and watched them live; I think that's because Delegates would otherwise be waving "hi" to them and asking for autographs the whole time, so they keep their backs to the Delegates and watch small TV sets, then provide commentary on the delivery they didn't really witness any more than viewers at home.
I also met various people seated near me, including DNC staffers, K Street consultants, a Republican who was hired to work on the Convention hall computer system, teen volunteers, and more. In general, I had a much better pulse of the Convention than I did in the "blogger roost." It's unfortunate that bloggers aren't given as good of access as some other journalists, but I guess bloggers should just be thankful they were credentialed at all this first year.
Two fun moments in the blogger roost: (1) bloggers were struggling with sporadic WiFi connections. The WiFi was out for about an hour Monday night. Then Al Gore took the podium at the Convention; suddenly the WiFi worked. We joked, "Al really did invent the Internet!" (2) Near the end of Bill Clinton's speech he said, "Strength and wisdom are not conflicting values-- they go hand in hand," and the bloggers cheered mightily (s'pose bloggers think we are wise?).
Some hours have passed and the rain is coming down hard on the tent. Almost no press members are around at this point. It's just me and a blogger friend typing and a whole bunch of security officers casing the tent. I've heard that some news outlets gave their Boston-bound staffers terrorism drills and gas masks for the journey. Thousands of journalists cleared out of the tent some hours ago having filed their stories. It strikes me that I've chosen to spend hours blogging in the heart of a supposed terrorist target surrounded by security members with live ammo. Oh well.