Bloggers Rush In Where Dailies Fear to Tread
Besides, what compelling news interest would coverage serve? Alan Keyes will be lucky next month to get 25 percent of the vote. The dish on his daughter would make no difference. And then there was always the possibility of a hoax–though neither Keyes has alleged one and regular readers of xanga.com seem to have no doubts.
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Rich Miller, publisher of the newsletter “Capitol Fax,” reported on September 30: “Almost every Chicago political reporter is currently and actively pursuing the Keyes controversy, and his refusal to talk about it is starting to drive them a little crazy. You can see it in their stories. They’re champing at the bit, eager to find the hook that justifies blowing this thing wide open. Most of them are also sensitive about the daughter, but this thing is obviously driving them nuts. Millions of people already know about this, but they’re not allowed to report it.”
But Kadner sounded less vain than defeated. Bloggers, he concluded, are “the folks setting the news agenda. And you probably don’t have a clue who any of them are.”
“So…wow. I never realized I had supporters!”
“Some of my friends have been highly amused at the idea of so many adults examining so intensely the disjointed ramblings that a 15 (/16/17/18) year old posts to her friends through high school. I have to admit that, had my 15 year old self realized she was going to be subject to public scrutiny, she might have tried harder to be less of a teenager…
And two days later, when Zorn commented on an interview Keyes had just conducted with high school students for WTTW, the headline announced, “The Evasive Alan Keyes.”
