Several years ago, Tom Pauken, Scott Bennett and others with strong reputations in local politics and journalism started a blog they named Dallas Blog and described it as "the Blog of Dallas." From the first, they said the blog wouldn't be restricted to local issues, but readers could be forgiven for assuming that Dallas would be a primary subject of a blog titled Dallas Blog and featuring Texas writers.
I was an enthusiastic early reader, buying in to the blog's goal of being "be an independent voice for those 'forgotten Americans' who don't have lobbyists in Austin and Washington representing them, but who simply want a better community, better state, and better nation." I accepted Tom Pauken's invitation for readers "to respond to our stories and viewpoints by posting comments on our site", at least until I was blocked from commenting for unstated reasons.
I still subscribe to the RSS feed of Dallas Blog, but find it takes less and less time to dispose of the content. Here, for example, are the most recent headlines, all summaries of stories in other news sources lifted by the only remaining daily contributor, Tom McGregor.
- Japan's Lawmakers Pressure PM to Quit
- China's Economy Regains Rapid Growth
- Palestinian President Shuts Down Al-Jazeera
- India Issues Biometric Cards to 1.2 Billion Citizens
- Love Hotels Remain Popular in Japan
- Religious Controversy Ensnares Malaysia
- Ousted Zelaya Calls For Honduran Insurrection
- Al-Qaeda to Target China
- N Korea Insults S Korea President 10 Times-a-Day
Six of the stories are lifted from British news sources. If I want to read The Daily Telegraph, I'll subscribe to their RSS feed. Who knows, I might also read about Dallas there more often than I do at Dallas Blog.
Maybe Tom Pauken intends to revive Dallas Blog as a real alternative news source. Maybe Tom McGregor is just housesitting while Tom Pauken is away in Austin. Or maybe, like millions of other bloggers, Pauken started his blog and soon lost interest and abandoned it, in this case leaving only a parked domain with semi-automated postings by Tom McGregor. In any case, it just seems like such a waste. It could have been so much more.
5 comments:
Amen, Ed. I too, had high hopes. Then Rufus died and Pauken left.
Could have been a contender.
Love Reza, though.
Thanks for the feedback, rke. My own favorite was Ken Molberg.
I always thought a more accurate name for this ridiculous site would have been "Tom Pauken's Blog for Conservative Catholic White People," but they didn't ask me. I used to look at it for amusement, but I quit even that several months ago. I see it hasn't changed.
Thanks for the feedback, Lee Gibson. Tom Pauken definitely overloaded Dallas Blog with conservatives, but that by itself is not the reason for its failure.
No. In fact, in its early days, Dallas Blog employed Sam Merten, who has gone on to do excellent work at the Observer. No, they jumped the shark when they brought on Tabloid Tom, who clearly has no news judgment whatsoever and is lazy to boot.
Post a Comment