Bloggers: We're Growing In Power, Influence And Respect
Robert Paul Reyes
October 17, 2005
I pen a weekly opinion column for a small town newspaper with a circulation of about 15,000, I'm grateful for this platform that allows me to express my liberal views to my Bible Belt community.
But I also contribute to several Web sites, enabling me to reach tens of thousands, because my articles are usually syndicated by Google News.
Being a columnist for a print publication gives me a certain legitimacy, but writing for Web sites gives me influence, when someone enters "Harriet Miers" or "Natalee Holloway" in Google News, my essays are usually at the top, right next to entries by the New York Times and the Washington Post.
I consider myself an editorialist, but I don't shy away from the label "blogger". Bloggers have broken many big stories, and they also serve to keep the mainstream media honest. It's bloggers who shamed the media into covering the disappearance of Latoyia Figueroa
There are bloggers of every political persuasion, there's room for all of is to ply our trade in cyberspace.
There's even a growing community of online writers who exchange information and analyze current events from an evangelical perspective.
I'm an agnostic, but I'm not aghast at the concept of an army of God bloggers invading the Internet. I accept that Christian bloggers will use the Net to spread the Gospel, but I hope that they will also keep televangelists honest.
When a Jerry Falwell or a Pat Robertson makes an incredibly homophobic or insensitive remark, it should be the God bloggers who call them to task. Christian bloggers should be the ones writing editorials criticizing the offensive rhetoric of TV preachers, agnostic bloggers like me should only need to add an "Amen".
I'm proud and glad to be part of an army of bloggers, every day we gain more power, influence and respect. I've been quoted by the New York Times and identified as a writer for the newspaper that I write for, but I hope that I will be quoted again by that prestigious publication and be identified as a writer for the "American Chronicle" Web site.
But I also contribute to several Web sites, enabling me to reach tens of thousands, because my articles are usually syndicated by Google News.
Being a columnist for a print publication gives me a certain legitimacy, but writing for Web sites gives me influence, when someone enters "Harriet Miers" or "Natalee Holloway" in Google News, my essays are usually at the top, right next to entries by the New York Times and the Washington Post.
I consider myself an editorialist, but I don't shy away from the label "blogger". Bloggers have broken many big stories, and they also serve to keep the mainstream media honest. It's bloggers who shamed the media into covering the disappearance of Latoyia Figueroa
There are bloggers of every political persuasion, there's room for all of is to ply our trade in cyberspace.
There's even a growing community of online writers who exchange information and analyze current events from an evangelical perspective.
I'm an agnostic, but I'm not aghast at the concept of an army of God bloggers invading the Internet. I accept that Christian bloggers will use the Net to spread the Gospel, but I hope that they will also keep televangelists honest.
When a Jerry Falwell or a Pat Robertson makes an incredibly homophobic or insensitive remark, it should be the God bloggers who call them to task. Christian bloggers should be the ones writing editorials criticizing the offensive rhetoric of TV preachers, agnostic bloggers like me should only need to add an "Amen".
I'm proud and glad to be part of an army of bloggers, every day we gain more power, influence and respect. I've been quoted by the New York Times and identified as a writer for the newspaper that I write for, but I hope that I will be quoted again by that prestigious publication and be identified as a writer for the "American Chronicle" Web site.
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