DMYR June Meeting Featuring Lynn Bartels And David Harsanyi

Join Denver Metro Young Republicans on June 23rd for our June General Meeting. This month we are pleased to welcome members of the local Media, including Lynn Bartels (formerly of the Rocky Mountain News) and David Harsanyi, reporters from the Denver Post. They will discuss the media’s role in politics help us break down the current state of the Republican Party in Colorado.





HAVE YOUR QUESTIONS READY for these Colorado media standouts!

Our Agenda will also include election of 7 County Directors from each of our member counties (Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas, Jefferson). See By-laws for qualifications of officers.

These individuals will be responsible for coordinating DMYR activities in their county, providing communication between their County Chairmen/officers and the DMYR board, and tracking DMYR activism in their county in conjunction with the DMYR Activism Director. If you are ready to step up and play a critical role in your County and THE top Young Republican Organization in Colorado, we encourage you to run for these positions!

As always, if you have questions about politics, the party, or the political process in general, we are always ready to listen and answer your questions. We are ready to help YOU make a difference in your Community and the Republican Party through Education and Activism!

Meeting Date: Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009
Meeting Time: social hour begins at 5:30pm, meeting starts at 6:30pm
Meeting Location: Club M @ Hamburger Mary’s, 700 East 17th Avenue, Denver, CO 80203 [map] — Our own private bar! Entrance on the NorthEast corner of the building.

***Please be sure to join the DMYR Group and RSVP for this event on Facebook! And come hungry, as Mary’s has the best burgers in town!!***

Democrat Rep. Jared Polis Gleeful Over Demise Of Rocky Mountain News, Credits Progressive New Media

Speaking at Nutroots Netroots Nation (full audio of quote, first 2 minutes):

U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, who made his fortune selling greeting cards and flowers online, gave a shout-out to the blogosphere Saturday, giving it — and himself — credit for the "demise" of traditional journalism.

"I have to say, that when we say, 'Who killed the Rocky Mountain News,' we're all part of it, for better or worse, and I argue it's mostly for the better," Polis said at the Netroots Nation in Your Neighborhood event in Westminster, according to a recording posted online. The group supports progressive politics.

"The media is dead, and long live the new media, which is all of us," said Polis, a Boulder Democrat.

The Rocky shuttered its operation Friday.

Polis also told those at the event that "since we killed the newspapers" and "own the media," bloggers and citizen journalists have a responsibility.

"We can't just kill it and walk away," he said. "It's important for all of us to reach out to some of those . . . on the other side and present the progressive point of view," he said.

Polis, sensing a backlash for his irresponsible and insensitive statements given the present economic downturn, has already issued a mealy-mouthed response (h/t Drunkablog):

The end of the Rocky Mountain News was a blow to all of us in Colorado. We were proud to have a city that had two powerful voices, two daily venues for informing the public, and a diversity of editorial voices. Not only has Colorado lost over 200 jobs, but the voice of the RMN has been silenced.

Indeed, some of the blame rests with new media. While there are many other factors that have contributed such as the recession and a decline in advertising, the very fact that we are discussing this issue here, in the online forum of the DP, is demonstrative of the rise of new media. The newspaper industry has yet to figure out how to monetize online traffic, and until they do, I worry not only about the demise of the RMN but I worry about the future of a strong third estate across our great nation.

Jared Polis

The Post traces the development of the story, from short blurb by a citizen journalist who attended the Netroots Nation conference on Saturday, to a full follow-up by Post staff. Polis' office coughed up the audio, so there isn't a "lack of context" to the quote.

The Post concludes:

Polis said what he said with glee. He giggled as he talked about how progressives shared much responsibility in the Rocky’s passing.

Carroll is preparing a column for tomorrow’s paper that goes into the audio in greater detail – and shows how some key statements Polis told Carroll in yesterday’s interview are at odds with the facts.

There is a footnote for citizen journalists of all political stripes--get the facts straight by providing citations and links whenever possible, and even better, get it on tape so that you can't be accused of taking quotes out of context:

To wrap it up, The Post followed traditional journalistic values to provide fast-paced commentary and news on this story.

Some question whether responsible journalism will survive the Internet. Yesterday is proof that responsible journalism only benefits from the Internet and makes good use of the technology.

The example that mainstream media represents is a high bar we expect citizen journalists of all political stripes to meet.

Or be ignored.

I'm not sure how high that MSM bar has been recently, but citizen journalists should take care to maintain credibility. Leave the partisan hackery to the partisan hacks. Cite sources, and if documents are provided (such as through a CORA request) make them available to readers. Where possible, use audio or video to bolster your claims. And always follow up.

So how about that new media eh, Polis?

One Less Online Voice: PolitickerCO Shut Down

PolitickerCO's Jeremy Pelzer and other state-level affiliates of the Politicker brand were laid off Friday.

Pelzer's final post (since scrubbed from the PolitickerCO site):

To all PolitickerCO.com readers:

As you may have heard, most Politicker sites — including in Colorado — are being closed.

I’ve had the time of my life covering Colorado politics this year, and I’ve made friends for life. For future reference, I can be reached at jeremypelzer[at]gmail.com.

Thanks so much for reading!

Jeremy Pelzer

Pelzer represented the best of the online news format--timely coverage, insider information and original reporting, and an ease and familiarity with the blogosphere.

He has set up a temporary home at Mile High Politics--and will hopefully find a soft landing in the state to continue the independent journalism PolitickerCO's readers came to appreciate in 2008. Given the current state of media (print and televised) and the perennial need for scrutinizing our political officials, Pelzer's opening post encapsulates the situation in Colorado, and offers an alternative to the MSM:

My aim is for Mile High Politics to be a reliable, non-partisan blog on Colorado politics, policy, and government. I know many people who are skeptical of news coverage from blogs because they view them as amateur, agenda-driven publications. Certainly, there are many bloggers with agendas (and there's nothing wrong with that), but there are also an ever-increasing number of blogs that are just as responsible, objective, professional, and trustworthy as any newspaper or magazine. And as faltering newspapers cut their political coverage, I would argue there's an increasing demand for more blogs from the latter catagory.

So I figured I'd start this blog for that reason, and also because Colorado politics is extremely interesting and damn fun to cover. Hopefully you'll find this blog as entertaining to read as it is for me to write.

The blogroll has been updated.

Where Do We Go From Here? Conservatism 2.0 Conference

Michelle Malkin and Glenn Reynolds discuss the need for the GOP/conservatives/libertarians to continue to keep the "big tent" open and not circle the wagons and fire inward, as the right is often prone to do.

Second, a center-right new media/blogosphere convention in the style of a Kos-convention, without the moonbattery and tinfoil, of course. CPAC, held annually inside the beltway, would clearly not fit the bill.