Bloggers and industry
The National Shooting Sports Foundation’s Bill Brassard writes about the gun blogs:
Mr Jonsson interviewed media experts who confirmed that indeed the bloggers are a significant part of the current sea change in information distribution and consumption. His experience at the NRA show mirrors what NSSF has seen in recent years at the SHOT Show, where the number of bloggers has increased yearly and where NSSF, recognizing their value, provides them with press privileges identical to outdoor and mainstream media.
Gun bloggers were out in such force at the NRA convention that they rivaled mainstream media in attendance, causing Jonsson to observe, “Experts say that ratio at a major national news event featuring a panoply of GOP stars including John McCain and Mitt Romney presents a stunning affirmation of the rise of a mix of both partisan and fiercely independent and sometimes downright cranky New Media, marking its growing power to not only cover breaking news, but set the tone for political policy and, in the case of Second Amendment rights, even the direction of the NRA itself.”
May 19th, 2009 at 2:07 pm
Considering that neither McCain nor Romney are exactly friends of the Second Amendment, I would think that their being speakers at the NRA convention says volumes about the NRA.
May 19th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
I think McCain has come around some. Sure, he had his evil gun show loophole ad a bit back. But he was one of the few Republican candidates who actually understood what the assault weapons ban was about.
May 19th, 2009 at 7:19 pm
The NRA listening to gunbloggers and allowing them to set it’s agenda?
I don’t think so. Case in point, the “2A Blogger Bash” fiasco just days before this epic convention. I seem to recall that the NRA distanced itself and allowed the gunblogger who put on the bash to embarrass herself in a show of pettiness towards a certain AL gunblogger and his followers.
If the NRA had REALLY been interested in the bloggers, they would have used one of their own media-savvy people to set up that sideshow, and they wouldn’t have allowed it to get out of hand with an internecine knife-fight just before the convention.
Nope, the NRA sat on their hands, hoping that the gunbloggers would self-destruct, which they almost did.
The mere provision of convention media credentials does not mean the gunbloggers will be invited into the NRA boardroom. Gosh, what if the bloggers expressed disdain for some of the mass-marketing policy of the NRA? What if said mass-marketing was to be dropped at the request of gunbloggers? Seems to me that many of the NRA executives would be taking a severe salary cut.
Nope, THAT won’t ever happen.