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digital culture If You've Got it, Blog it!
Do professional credentials certify a pundit’s wisdom? Not online, says blogger Chris Geidner. In blogdom, amateurs and professionals can share the spotlight in the opinion elite.Chris Geidner couldn’t fight his urge to write. After having worked for a daily newspaper, the Tribune
On his blog, Geidner writes about Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender equality, media law, media ethics, and politics (including the primaries, the Democratic National Convention advertising campaign and campaign finance reform). By March 2004, his site’s hit count reached 15,000 hits. How has a second-year law student turned his legal/political blog into a respected source of commentary on touchy issues, especially without a solid foundation of credentials? University of California, Los Angeles, law professor and legal blogger, Eugene Volokh, states he will read and even link to “a wide range of
Online persona, Atrios, who can be found at his political blog, Eschaton, says, “A third year law student has at least as much knowledge and experience as some guy named ‘Atrios’ with unknown qualifications.” And for the most part, in the blogosphere, says Atrios, “people don't appeal to their credentials to set themselves up as a kind of authority.” This may be a nice thing for self-appointed pundits who want to push their way into the opinion mosh pit, as Matt Welch suggests in his Columbia Journalism Review article, but is it a plus for media consumers? Josh Micah Marshall, contributing writer for Washington Monthly, columnist for The Hill, and creator of the influential weblog Talking Points Memo, says that, while “a well-known law professor might have more standing and credibility on certain legal issues than a law student, the thing about blogs is that they allow everyone to prove the value of what they bring to the table without having to prove that value or credibility in advance. It's a very meritocratic environment—people get readers based on the value of what they produce.” Geidner was inspired to blog by Marshall and Andrew Sullivan. During his first year of law school he spent a lot of time “avoiding work” by surfing the Web, says Geidner. “During those times, I came across Talking Points Memo,” he recalls, “and I realized how appealing [blogs] were, especially in the legal and political realms.” After seeing the effect that bloggers like Marshall had on media coverage and, as a result, public opinion in situations such as Trent Lott’s fall from grace, Geidner realized the potential power of blogging. Geidner decided to step up to the plate and toy with his own blogging potential, using his (blog) voice to focus on the issues that impact him and his community. Geidner has blogged extensively about the Defense of Marriage Act and the Federal Marriage Amendment, both of which would limit the legal institution of marriage to male-female unions. A major portion of his January 2004 blog entries was devoted exclusively to the DOMA, specifically the Ohio DOMA. To Geidner, who is openly gay, these issues aren’t just hot topics to blog about. He has written about how personally affected he feels by conservative responses to activist calls for the legalization of gay and lesbian marriages. In his January 29th entry, he writes, “I know this place has become somewhat of an Ohio DOMA-centered site in recent weeks, but…I don't want to give in just yet to the fact that my state legislators have chosen—rather overwhelmingly in the House— that any relationship I should find myself in is unworthy of the state's recognition.” Terry Estep, a member of the Parkersburg, West Virginia chapter of PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays), copy editor and columnist for the Parkersburg News and Sentinel, and creator of the political/gay blog Mystery Steps, believes that gay blogs and online journals offer outsiders insight into
Via LawDork, Geidner does devote much attention to the gay struggle, but he doesn’t foresee the hottest gay (legal) issue playing a significant role in the most awaited political event of the year. Geidner concedes that, in his opinion, the subject of gay and lesbian marriage won’t have a “critical effect” on the outcome of the 2004 elections. According to the 2000 U.S. Census, lesbian and gay couples make up only 12.6 percent of the population (although these statements remain controversial). Nonetheless, Geidner feels that the issue of gay marriage is a detonating legal and political topic, well worth blogging about. Geidner’s blog entries about gay marriage have inspired him to take part in other projects around the same theme, bringing him widespread recognition. Since starting his blog, Geidner has published two commentaries, both having to do with gay and lesbian marriage issues, in FindLaw’s Writ, the legal commentary section of the highest-trafficked legal website—FindLaw . One of these commentaries was also published by NewYorkBlade.com. The latter stirred up controversy in the blogosphere when Geidner was accused of comparing the lesbian and gay struggle for the legal right to marry, to the African-Americans civil rights movement, a comparison some people find absurd and offensive. As a result of the same article, Geidner was pounded for his critique of certain law professors’ lack of defense for same-sex marriages, calling them “heterosexual moderates” who “have quickly stepped back in the midst of political pressures”. But it is the debate that arises from these types of articles that results in an “interesting inter-blog dialogue” (or, should we say, “diablog”) between writers and readers, something unique to the Net. Geidner believes that the Internet is creating a more equal forum by giving people with different educational and professional levels the ability to engage in discussion. “Before we would have said, ‘Why listen to him? He’s a student.’ Now, because of the Internet, all of a sudden it’s worthwhile for [distinguished professionals] to respond to me. For students—pundits in the making—Geidner avows that blogs provide a forum through which they can engage critically in the issues of the day, allowing them to formulate and share their thoughts outside of grade-driven scholastic writing. “Within the law school world, [blogging] has sort of become a way for people to express themselves,” he says. “People are not used to getting to express their thoughts and not get graded on it. It’s really appealing to students” because it gives them the opportunity to impart their thoughts with their peers and the wider world. Geidner’s latest endeavor, DeNovo, is a group blog site started by himself, UCLA law student Nick Morgan, Harvard law student Jeremy Blachman, and University of Virginia pre-law student Pallavi Guniganti (A.K.A. "PG"). While DeNovo focuses on the same general topics as Geidner’s personal site, Geidner likes the option of being able to post blogs more peculiar to him on LawDork and post “more debatable” topics at the group site, he says. For Geidner, the group blog is “an amazing opportunity for people to interact with people you would otherwise never meet.” Geidner says the four distinct voices of DeNovo will attract a wide range of readers and, since each of DeNovo’s bloggers resides in a different part of the country, they can each draw a student following at their respective schools. “People at [my] school admit to checking [my blogs] every day,” says Geidner. De Novo received 1500 hits on the first day it launched and UCLA Professor Eugene Volokh volunteered to write an essay for the opening symposium. Geidner also set up a DOMA resource page. Due in part to his growing reputation as a blogger and legal commentator on relevant issues, he was selected to participate in a “Civil Union Panel Discussion” about the Ohio DOMA that took place on March 3, 2004, at Ohio State University. Geidner spoke alongside fellow panelists Ohio House Representative, Jim McGregor, co-founder of Ohio Freedom to Marry, Karen Andermills, head of the Columbus office of Citizens for Community Values, Barry Sheets, and president of Columbus Stonewall Democrats, Chad Foust. Geidner’s writings have been linked to by political and legal bloggers, such as Volokh, University of Tennessee law professor Glenn Reynolds, Atrios, and one of the buzz-generating pundits who inspired his blog, Andrew Sullivan. According to commentators, such as Josh Micah Marshall, Geidner is an object lesson in blogdom’s ability to foster self-accredited InstaPundits. For his part, Geidner is comfortable commenting as an amateur and says that, online, his ideas get no less respect than those of professionals. “I would hope blogging would never evolve into a medium where you'd need specific credentials to talk about this or that subject,” says Marshall. “The key is simply that you be honest with your readers about what your level of knowledge is about the given topic, and let the readers make up their minds.” Related Links DeNovo partner Jeremy Blachman’s Blog DeNovo partner Pallavi Guniganti's blog Journal Sentinel article on Census results for same-sex households Same sex marriage events and info Defense of Marriage Act Ohio approves DOMA Vanessa Díaz is a co-managing editor of ReadMe, issue 4.4. A junior majoring in Latin American studies and politics at New York University, she is also a freelance journalist. Her first-hand accounts of 9/11, filed from New York, appeared in the daily newspaper The Press Enterprise and was broadcast from the FM radio station, 99.1 KGGI, both based in Riverside, California. |
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