Washblog

Obviously the first thing I wanted to see was what type of political coverage they had and who would be providing it. The list of political "Examiners" consisted of two names, John Barnes - listed as the "Seattle Politics Examiner" and Eric Earling - "Seattle Right Side Politics Examiner." To be honest, I had no idea who John Barnes was but I certainly was familiar with the ring master over at Sound Politics. I decided to do a bit of checking on Mr. Barnes. His bio indicated that he worked for a "non-profit public policy think tank in Seattle." Hmmm, sounds like a quick check of "the Google" is in order. Oh, there he is: John Barnes, Communications Director  at Washington Policy Center. So it seemed the rightwing was being adequately represented and therefore my role was defined; a Progressive voice to offset the rightwing talking points that Earling and Barnes would be free to repeat/re-post from their primary gigs.

A bit on the Examiner concept :

An online extension of the Examiner Newspapers with print versions in San Francisco, Denver, and DC, Examiner.com has a National portal as well as portals in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. There are currently 60 sites. Each site employs its own local "examiners" (I'm not sure whether they really intend to dis bloggers or simply want to reinforce their Examiner brand.) The examiners write on the variety of topics that you would find in any newspaper - news, weather, fashion, entertainment, food, politics, etc.  The Seattle site has 30 different examiners with the addition of yours truly as the "Seattle Progressive Politics Examiner." I submitted my introductory piece yesterday. But wait! There's more...

Apparently it is a potentially controversial act to write for Examiner.com. No sooner had I submitted my post for publication I saw this from Andrew Villeneuve over at the Northwest Progressive Institute:

Local conservative think tank spokesman using "Seattle Politics Examiner" to promote the Washington Policy Center

While doing a Google search earlier tonight, I ran across the recently created Seattle extension of The Examiner, a network of newspapers and websites owned by Clarity Media Group, which is itself owned by conservative billionaire Philip Frederick Anschutz, the thirty first most wealthy American (according to Forbes) and a George W. Bush donor.

The initial object of Andrew's scorn is Seattle Politics Examiner, John Barnes who, as mentioned before, is the Communications Director for the Washington Policy Center.

In his page bio, Barnes fails to mention who his employer actually is:
'Born and raised in the Seattle area, John is the Communications Director for a non-profit public policy think tank in Seattle. He is a published historian and holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in history. In his spare time you can find John traipsing Washington's rivers with a fly rod in hand or just exploring the countryside.'
But he doesn't have a problem promoting his employer's work on "Seattle Politics Examiner" without clearly disclosing that he works there. His most recent post on the Examiner website is actually a duplicate of a short entry at the Washington Policy Center blog hyping a report by the group that attacks Sound Transit for being engaged with local activists and stakeholders.

After taking Barnes to task (a move that must have paid off because Barnes' page bio NOW lists WPC as his main crib) Villeneuve then proceeds to take the entire enterprise to task for their lack of any Progressive content, their apparent disdain for bloggers (again "examiners" vs bloggers), and again raises questions about the conservative slant of the owner. Interestingly, Laura Vecsey who, in addition to her recruiting duties here in the Seattle market also writes as the "Seattle People Examiner" jumped right onto the comments for Andrew's post.

My name is Laura Vecsey, content director for Examiner.com/seattle. We just launched in Seattle April 14. My job has been to recruit local experts to contribute to the site. Oddly, not one of the dozen or more left-leaning or progressive bloggers in Seattle and the Pacific NW has wanted to join us -- yet. Thankfully, Chad Shue will be on the site ASAP as the Seattle Progressive Politics Examiner. It has been oddly slow trying to enlist experts on progressive politics in Seattle to come on board.
I would love to talk to you about this. In fact, I would love for you to serve as the Seattle NW Progressive Politics Examiner!
Thanks
Laura Vecsey

Ouch! So I guess that would make me the 13th or lower pick for the gig. Now I don't know who was asked before me but, aside from the obvious ego hit, I'm not really too concerned. Knowing what I know so far about this venture, I saw an opportunity and I accepted. The challenge that I am presented with is daunting. For starters, as most people know, I spend quite a bit of my blogging on Federal politics. While I do engage in the local and regional stuff, I just find the national issues easy pickings (I mean McSame practically writes himself). As the Seattle Progressive Politics Examiner, I need to keep my focus on the local and regional action. I also know that I will be the Progressive voice that will serve as the counter point to Eric Earling. Regardless of what most of us think of Earling's politics, to a great number of folks (including many in the MSM) he is considered on a level with the Goldy. While I don't intend to turn my column into a direct head to head, post for post, confrontation with him, I am sure that we will both be taking hits at the same people and events from opposite ends of the spectrum on many occasions. The thing that really attracts me to this role however is the opportunity to reach a much wider audience. The Seattle portal is just now reaching its 90 day anniversary so I will have the chance to become the Progressive voice for Seattle and Washington State for other Examiners from around the country as well as their readers. The thing that gives me the most confidence in going forward is my fellow bloggers at Washblog. I know that I will always be able to come here for story leads and resources. I have already had some great words of encouragement from some of you. In turn I will be looking forward to directing other readers to this site.

By the way, I'm hoping that someone takes Laura's offer to become a Progressive counter-point to the current "Seattle Politics Examiner" - perhaps a Seattle Progressive Government Examiner?

Peace,
Chad (The Left) Shue