BLOG

On Tuesday I covered Michael McGinns announcement of his candidacy for mayor for CHS.  KIRO was the only TV crew that was there, the only other camera there besides me was the McGinn Campaign’s crew.  It was funny seeing how much the KIRO crew stuck out, all the journalists asked questions like normal people, and then Essex Porter in his suit talks all loud in his trained journalist voice... he just seemed out of place since he was the only one.  I'm so glad I don't have to deal with a huge camera like theirs and all that gear, although I was definitely grateful for their light.  It still seems odd to me that the people putting on the press conferences don't set up lights, even at the Sonics we'd rely on the TV crews to light the press conferences. I got some great feedback on my use of ‘tweets’ and blog comments in the video… Scott Schaefer of the B-Town Blog said

"Sweet Tweet Touch on the Vid!  Your use of Tweets in the video is very clever...innovative, appropriate, and definitely made me overlook that McGinn should've shaved.  I'm stealing this idea now."

Eli Sanders called me “ever present” on Slog.  I guess that’s a good thing…? And Monica Guzman of seattlepi.com wrote about me on the Big Blog, the post includes a rambly, semi-coherent quote from me… I definitely should’ve had my morning coffee before I called her back. I also got a comment from Paul Balcerak, of PNWlocalnews.com, who I quoted in the video as saying that he liked McGinns idea of fiberoptic networking.  Here’s what he said

On second thought... I have to reconsider what I said (and was quoted as saying). Yes, at first the idea of Internet infrastructure seemed cool ... but as so many have mentioned, it's not as if Seattle has an Internet problem or anything. The economy sucks right now and it seems like kids are getting shot in the CD and South Seattle on a weekly (if not more frequent) basis. I agree with Uncle Vinny: "I would be much happier if he'd drop the 'fiber optic network' thing and put the social safety net front and center. So anyway, consider "paulbalcerak's" video comment redacted.

This points out that including the tweets and comments in the video is not meant to be analysis, it’s just commentary… immediate reactions.  The value of having these comments is to give some context to what McGinn is saying by showing how others in the community are reacting to his statements. For some it may be useful to see other people’s reactions on screen.  For others, I’m sure it’s distracting and unnecessary.  Personally, I think it can be useful to see other people’s reactions because it can help you see where your own biases and preconceptions are, I think it is also a great way to engage the community by giving them a chance to be part of the conversation instead of just observing.