Sunday, January 01, 2006

Eye on Pundit Review

This afternoon's post is written by Gregg and Kevin of Pundit Review.

Tonight on Pundit Review Radio we will take a look at the big stories of 2005 and highlight the impact of the new media.

Winter of 2004

We will take a look at the role of the new media in the Social Security debate.

Spring 2005

We had the Newsweek/Ko'ran controversy. The heat that was placed on Newsweek by the New Media led to their eventually moving off their denial to a full apology.

This story impacted us directly, with WRKO deciding to fire Newsweek International’s radio program on Sunday evenings and replacing them with a show by and about bloggers. What a delicious irony. Thanks Newsweak!

Summer 2005

What a busy season for bloggers. They played a tremendous role in two tragedies, the London bombings and Hurricaine Katrina. In each case, new technology and citizen journalists were providing the quickest, freshest information, perspective, survival stories and photos.

This summer we also had the Dick Durbin trilogy where he compared US troops behavior to that of the Nazi’s, Soviets and Pol Pot. The new media (blogs, talk radio, cable news) gave life to the story, moving Durbin from unapologetic to silent to tears on the floor of the Senate. We are looking forward to the Oscars this Spring to see how he does.

Autumn 2005

In the wake of Katrina we saw the rise of Porkbusters, a grass roots initiative led by bloggers like NZ Bear, Instapundit and Mark Tapscott (all former guests on Pundit Review Radio) designed to get politicians to give up pork projects to help them pay for Katrina relief. The campaign picked up speed all fall. Click here to see which politicians joined and which said no.

In December, VP Cheney passed the tie-breaking vote on $50 billion in budget cuts. Without question, Porkbusters played some role in this.

Winter 2005

Right now law blogs are providing tomorrow’s news today on the upcoming Alito hearings. Subject matter experts, constitutional law profs, practitioners, and partners at major firms are providing their insight and analysis for anyone who wants to read it.

When you do, you understand Alito’s rulings and his judgment, and you will have heard the background/context against the attacks which will come. Every argument against Alito has already been hashed out on law blogs, usually in highly communicative ways that are easy to absorb. What a fabulous resource for political junkies who are interested in such things.

Finally, we have two special awards to give out tonight

1. A SPECIAL AWARD for EXCELLENCE IN AGENDA DRIVEN JOURNALISM TO THE NY TIMES.

2. A SPECIAL AWARD TO MILBLOGGERS IN RECOGNITION OF THEIR CONTRIBUTION OF BALANCED REPORTING ON THE WAR IN IRAQ, WITH SPECIAL RECOGNITION TO THE INCOMPARABLE MICHAEL YON.

Check us out tonight, 9pm EST
Streaming Live on WRKO
Call us toll free 877-469-4322


I usually write about Gregg and Kevin myself, but this was just too juicy. These guys are hot, they are on the mark, and they are not even all that partisan!

Please give them a listen to, and let them know how they did. I ask you to be polite if you disagree with them. They are big boys. They can handle it, but for me, please, just be civil. That is all I ask.