So far, two Alaskan reporters are accredited to attend the Democratic National Convention and the Republican National Convention. Dennis Zaki, the main reporter and editor for The Alaska Report, Alaska's most long-standing, high-traffic, electronic journalism outlet, has been accredited to attend both conventions. Celtic Diva, the main commentator at Celtic Diva's Blue Oasis, has been chosen to be Alaska's blogger at the Democratic National Convention.I just got off the phone with Joy at the Anchorage Daily News. They haven't and don't intend to apply for credentials to either event. I'm sure the Alaska TV and radio stations will be relying upon their networks to provide coverage for Alaskans.
Celtic Diva, Dennis and Progressive Alaska have been - up until this morning - the only Alaska media outlets covering Ted Stevens' critical role in the passing of the "Enron Loophole," that has added hundreds of millions, probably billions of dollars to the amounts of money Alaskans must pay for their fuel. This morning, KUDO's Carrie Carrigan had Celtic Diva in the studio with him, and me on the phone, discussing St. Ted's duplicity on this. Hopefully, other Alaska media will start covering this, and the other Ted Stevens story that is starting to break nationally, that of his endorsement of a Right-wing hate novel, quite similar to those so popular in Europe a century or so ago, that helped pave the way to the Holocaust.
Dennis Zaki has done far more to expose shortcomings of Don Young and Ted Stevens to national attention than much of the Alaska media has given him credit for. And Celtic Diva, has bolted, over the past few months, from being one of Alaska's longest running and thoughtful local political-cultural blogs, to being one of the most highly esteemed web presences in the country.
I'll be holding a fundraiser for Celtic Diva's Team Blue Oasis out in the Mat-Su Valley on July 20th. We'll have live music, comedy, great Alaska fish (!!!) and other treats for guests. We hope to raise more money to help CD meet her expenses at the Democratic National Convention. We're hoping to be able to have her provide a live feed to Alaskans, of Sen. Barack Obama's acceptance speech there.
More on the fundraiser soon.
Talking to college journalism, communications and political science majors, there is an acute awareness that the next generation of journalists will be more like CD or Zaki, than like the ADN's Matt Zencey, for instance. Young people hold them up as models of how, if we're able to keep our electronic freedoms, these graduating, truth-seeking young reporters will be able to create their own future, rather than have to rely upon writing and recording for large, cumbersome media edifices, that too often serve as gatekeepers for attenuating important information, rather than as open-source distribution systems for a wide array of vital ideas.
Update - Monday 11:00 p.m: geronimo notes in the comments that I neglected to point out in this article that Shannyn Moore was the first person in Alaska media to connect the dots regarding Sen. Stevens and the Enron Loophole. I had mentioned that in a previous article, and am sorry I left it out of this one.
Especially now.
Celtic Diva and Dennis Zaki at the Alaska Democratic Party Convention last Spring