Sunday, March 19, 2006 at 12:33 pm by Darryl
The Adele Postmortem
I’ve heard Goldy at horsesass.org say many times that the most important role for bloggers is not to persuade the masses, but to persuade the press.
His logic is that the audience for blogs is relatively small compared to that of the traditional media. Furthermore the audience for any one blog is entirely self-selected, and people usually don’t seek out political blogs as a way to shape or challenge their fundamental principles.
Some blogs, like horsesass.org, have an established track record of breaking stories, providing salient analyses, and stirring up high-quality buzz. Goldy established his “press†credentials during his “Horses Ass†initiative in 2003. Goldy’s blog really took off during the 2004 Washington State election contest, when he established himself as a first class muckraker. Subsequently, his muckrakery accomplished such things as toppling Michael Brown, and helping King County Executive Ron Sims’ reelection by educating voters about David Irons Jr.
Goldy gets read by the press every day (several reporters have told me so). Does that leave any role for small-time blogs? Specifically, can a small-time blog like Hominid Views really do something that affects the press? Last week I found the answer, and it is yes.
Last Monday morning, my colleague Devon pointed out this Adele Ferguson editorial to me. My first reaction was typical of people seeing this article. “Is this a joke?†After ascertaining that it wasn’t and that Ms. Ferguson was a real political columnist, I decided this editorial could not go unpunished.
After I was done at work, I quickly rattled off something of an angry rant (complete with a fair number of embarrassing typos) and posted it around 6:30 pm. I included Adele’s address in the hopes that the response would prove educational to her. (In hindsight, I should have taken the time to include the editor’s contact information which I only added later as an update.)
I thought about posting a nasty satirical letter to Adele. But good satire takes a lot of time and I was just trying to keep my head above water during a very busy week at work. So, instead, I dropped a line to the master of political satire, Patriotboy at Jesus’ General, suggesting that Adele might “need some love from the General.â€
I must say here that the General has been very good to me. I’ve done a little bit of satire, usually in the form of satirical letters. In other words, I blatantly rip-off the General whose trademark is such letters. Nevertheless, the General has graciously linked to many of my posts, and even invited me to guest blog for him a couple of times!
“Good God! She still has a column?†was the General’s reply late Monday night. The next time I visited my blog—Tuesday afternoon—I found a surprisingly large pile of comments to the Adele post. The General had done it again with another brilliant letter. He kindly chose to link to my post rather than linking directly to the Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal article. (The traffic bump was…um…â€noticeable.†A good day for Hominid Views is 100 visitors; the General directly and indirectly brought in well over 10,000 visitors.)
The General’s post struck a chord in the liberal blogosphere. In short order, the post was picked up by several national blogs like Crooks and Liars. Throughout the rest of the week, numerous smaller blogs picked up the thread as well.
What impact did all this have? The editor at the Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal got some emails. And then he got more emails…and then even more email. He got email and emails and emails and emails. At least 1,500 emails arrived within a few days. And, who knows how many phone calls he fielded.
The emails and phone calls worked. By 9:00 pm Wednesday night, the online version of the article was pulled. I immediately posted a scanned print version and Goldy posted a pdf of the online version.
But that wasn’t the end of it. As I learned through the editor’s reply to a letter from Linny Harris (thanks Linny for posting the letter!) the calls and emails helped the editor make another important decision:
Had we not been contractually obligated to run that column unedited, do you think for one minute we would have? Why would I intentionally want to subject myself to 1500+ hateful emails from all over the world, sully my own personal reputation, as well as that of the paper I’ve spent 20 years of my life building? That’s a no-win for me.
A couple of interesting oddities about all this though. While this hit the liberal blogs – which is where the bulk of the responses came from, we have had less than 10 responses from local readers who actually received the print edition. As an editor and publisher, this tells me the readership of her column is extremely low and offers the perfect justification to discontinue it – which I will do when the contract with the syndicator is up—which is just shortly. I’ll also be MUCH more diligent when dealing with future editorial contracts.
Now, that’s something! If Adele Ferguson is dropped from one newspaper then a battle, albeit a small one, has been won.
It is the occasional victory like this that keeps me blogging and interested in blogging. These victories belong to the entire liberal blogosphere, which has become a force at many levels of politics—from Brownie all the way down to Adele. Our eyes are open and our ears are perked. When we spot a “violation†we have an infrastructure to make things happen.
And, sometimes even the tiniest of blogs can catalyze a considerable chain reaction!
(Finally, thanks to all who left comments–even those pointing out my typos. I apologize that I wasn’t able to respond to comments last week…I was just keeping my head above water….)
Sunday, March 19th, 2006 at 1:53 pm
Very well done!
Sunday, March 19th, 2006 at 1:58 pm
That is telling when blog reads measure in the tens of thousands. When these racist start to feel their oats they can quickly be smacked down by a network of bloggers who’s readership stretches far and wide. Even when small blog reels in the story.
Great job Darryl
Sunday, March 19th, 2006 at 2:37 pm
Wow! I’ll be citing this ‘postmortem’ for some time to come. Direct, unambiguous, and clearly identifiable evidence of the impact of a single blog entry. Beautiful.
Sunday, March 19th, 2006 at 3:18 pm
Well done, Darryl. I had a voicemail late Friday from the administrative assistant over at the KPBJ on this issue and was going to follow up on Monday. You beat me!
I posted a follow up over at Loaded Orygun which includes your post here. Not sure that the trackback works..so here it is.
Sunday, March 19th, 2006 at 3:39 pm
You will be honored in the annuls of history…
Way to go!
Sunday, March 19th, 2006 at 3:48 pm
Many thanks, Daniel, Jimmy, Noemie, Carla and Belltowner.
Carla, sorry to beat you to the cancellation story. Although, if I had had time to read my own comment thread, I would have posted on it last Thursday
.
Talk about snoozing!
Sunday, March 19th, 2006 at 7:23 pm
[...and the end result is one crazy racist whack who can take that shit to a street corner in what's left of the New Orleans 9th ward and just see how well that sells. Those of us who have seen it, lived it or studied it understand that there is no pony in the horse's shit. The author will no longer be getting paid to write in the Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal...]
Pingback by McCranium.org» Blog Archive » The Impact of the Blogosphere — March 19, 2006 @ 7:51 pm
Tuesday, March 21st, 2006 at 10:42 am
I add my voice of thanks. Adele Ferguson was a passioniate admirer of Tim Eyman and his far right ideas of reduced government except for the wealthy.
She has done a number of interviews with him and poured it on with what a great guy he was.
So Ferguson’s unreal world view along with Eyman’s loses another place to spout their nonsense. Thanks for your work.
The analysis you did is helpful to all bloggers, especially when we sometimes wonder if anyone is paying attention to what we’re doing. Thanks.
.
Thursday, March 23rd, 2006 at 9:49 pm
Adele Ferguson still around? She must have close to what, 2 newspapers that still carry her? The fact thet she sequed from “blacks” straight to teachers unions without batting an eye should be enough to distance most papers in their ‘not so dark hearts’ to not publish her filth. What weight can she possibly carry to get a column published in a business journal? She can’t be sleeping with the editor.
Friday, March 24th, 2006 at 11:49 pm
[...] I recently posted an example of how the liberal blogosphere can and has made a difference by influencing the media. [...]
Thursday, March 30th, 2006 at 10:28 am
Welcome from Utah. I found this post while looking for any kind of followup from the KPBJ to this story. Not surprisingly, it doesn’t appear to be posting to the web any longer. Either that or I just can’t find it!
I saw the link to this issue on Crooks and Liars and was astounded that this racist piece of trash was even published. I was one of the 1500 original emailers to the editor and I also wrote a letter to Ms. Adele. I sincerely hope her mailbox was jammed. I could not fathom what this opinion piece had to do with business.
So thank you very much for linking her article to Crooks and Liars. I WILL combat racism and bigotry where ever and whenever I see it. We can do no less.
Warmest Regards,
Mary M. Thompson
Salt Lake City, UT
Tuesday, April 18th, 2006 at 5:30 pm
As a resident of Kitsap County and a reader of the Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal I want to share my views.
First off, I was one of the few locals who sent an enraged letter to the publisher, Lary Coppola. And not only do not stand behind Ms. Ferguson’s rants, but I do not respect her. Since I do live right here in the area and I am envolved politically, I feel that there is some information that should be known.
Lary Coppola, publisher, is a well respected businessman and journalist in the region and state wide. He is, according to his filing status when considering running for state office, a democrat. I asked him why such garbage is printed in such a reputable journal, and he told me that his contract with Ms. Ferguson includes a clause that he cannot edit what she submits. He also assured me that had he been able to edit this that it would not have been printed. Lary and the Coppola family has taken most of the heat for the printing of this article, other than not renewing her contract his hands are tied.
As far as Ms. Ferguson, we were both attendees to a legislative update event today. She was sitting nearly back to back with me. Let me just say that this woman is not serious about being a portrayer of fact. She is, to put it nice, disrespectful, angry, and wrong. During the beginning of this luncheon she sat and made frequent comments to a woman next to her all the while doing a crossword puzzle! Completely disrespecting those speaking. When the two legislatures who were present spoke, she huffed and puffed and scoffed out loud, she shook her head rudely and spoke even louder to the woman next to her about how “not true” or “wrong” something was. When question time came up she screamed a question at one legislature about why he spent all of our money.
I will just say in closing, that Ms. Ferguson does not represent anyone but herself in her views, I don’t believe she is even interested in representing anyone else. She is not taken seriously, and hopefully will not have a journalism job anytime soon.
Thanks for reading.
Thursday, July 6th, 2006 at 1:23 pm
I take the dailies(KitsapSun & Seattle Times) and the Central Kitsap Reporter.Adele’s column appears in the Wedesday edition.I go to her column first on that day. I have had an acquaintance with her for most of the 20 years I have lived in Kitsap County and read her column for many years when I lived in the Wenatchee Valley. I read many columns that appear in various web sites.Adele is right on the money in every column in my view. When she writes about cats and such,I just skim though I am sure there is an interested readership for pet owners. I read the column the rants are about.Don’t recall the details except to note that Adele had the truth out in the open. Unpleasant as that may be to the politically correct.
Tuesday, February 24th, 2009 at 11:19 am
I got here from a new Jesus General post on Adele Ferguson’s new idiotic Somalian coin rant that linked to her previous article from 2006 that you covered here. Just wondering if you ever followed up with KPBJ because they never pulled Adele Ferguson’s columns. Check their archives:
http://kpbj.com/opinioneditorial/archive/
Her columns appear from 5/5/06 right through the present day without skipping a beat. Same ignorant crap for the last 3 years.
Looks like KPBJ ignored you all as soon as the heat died down.