User:Localblogger

I've decided to join Wikipedia so that I can write articles on the most notable news and politics blogs focused on state and local issues in each state.

I have spent the last three years building up BlogNetNews.com where I track these blogs and provide a number of services to the blogging community. I have noticed that in many states there is a growing cadre of bloggers on both the right and the left who have been around for years and built solid reputations.

In an increasing number of political campaigns, the blogs break news and swing votes in the same way that other local media do. In Virginia, for instance, the importance of the state blogosphere has been recognized by politicians. State-wide elected officials (such as the current attorney general) go to blogs at scheduled times to answer questions from readers. Prominent blogs sponsor candidate debates. Virginia bloggers have have been hired as spokesperson for the Republican Party, by individual candidates and public affairs firms. One of the state's most prominent conservative bloggers was nominated and became a local judge.

While most blogs have not become prominent enough to deserve individual coverage in Wikipedia, I think the communities are large enough and influential enough to merit basic articles.

To put my bias out there, I definitely lean right, though I have spent most of my career working for mainstream liberalish editorial boards such as at USA Today and The Virginian-Pilot. Some state and local bloggers have also had disputes with the site I run of one kind or another. For that reason, I welcome any advice or participation from those more experienced than I in the world of Wikipedia.

Localblogger (talk) 19:48, 14 May 2009 (UTC) David Mastio (aka localblogger)