BLACK BLOGGERS FIGHT DNC FOR CONVENTION SPACE
This just in:
Democratic National Convention finally grants press credentials to ethnic bloggers after complaint filed.
Dallas Morning News is reporting that "minority bloggers that felt spurned by the Democratic National Committee got some vindication recently when they were added to the list of blogs invited by party officials to cover their convention in August – but some still say the white blogs got preferential treatment and will get better access."
Members of the "AfroSpear" web network, a circle of African-American run blogs, complained last month when 55 blogs were credentialed to cover the convention in Denver as part of the "State Blogger Corps" but only a few could be identified as minority blogs or having minority writers, the newspaper reported.
A few weeks later, the DNC added 69 blogs to their "General Blogger Pool" list, many of them being minority blogs. The list included the Dallas South blog, published by Shawn Williams, who had written U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson about the lack of African-Americans among the bloggers at the convention.
Other minority blogs included in the updated list are Pam’s House Blend, Jack and Jill, Culture Kitchen and African American Political Pundit.
"Most of the black bloggers I have talked to are happy for those who are credentialed," said Williams. But some other African-American bloggers, according to the paper, are still concerned that out of 124 credentialed blogs, less than 10 percent of them are black – while more than 20 percent of the delegates are black.
Additionally, the nearly all-white State Blogger Corps will have full-time seats on the convention floor, while the General Blogger Corps – which also includes blogs that focus on gay and lesbian issues as well as women’s issues, among other groups – will be allowed floor access for only limited periods of time, similar to access granted to the mainstream media.
It’s particularly troubling, some of the bloggers say, because the party is about to nominate Sen. Barack Obama, the nation’s first-ever African American presidential nominee – and the steps the DNC took to rectify the situation with the updated list have done little to address those concerns.
"Fundamentally, the situation has changed very little," said blogger Francis L. Holland, Afrosphere Action Coalition. "We think floor blog outreach to blacks is essential to Democratic victories in the fall, particularly in states with substantial black populations."
