Comments on: ODP to Ohio Bloggers: Barack Nobama!

By: Plunderbund - » The Marc Dann Uproar is NOT About Sex!

Plunderbund - » The Marc Dann Uproar is NOT About Sex! — Fri, 09 May 2008 17:14:11 +0000

[...] disagreed with Brian Rothenberg, but it’s time to do so again. Brian and I are famous for our squaring off over a dinner with Barack Obama. We even had a few roundabouts in the office when I worked at [...]

By: NixGuy.com » Who Gets the Black Vote?

NixGuy.com » Who Gets the Black Vote? — Wed, 07 Jun 2006 01:16:14 +0000

[...] Item: Barack Obama (another black guy) does a dinner for the ODP. [...]

By: Eric

Eric — Wed, 10 May 2006 19:45:09 +0000

Thanks John! I’ve bumped into your stuff before as well and promise to try to stay in better touch.

By: John Ettorre

John Ettorre — Wed, 10 May 2006 19:31:09 +0000

I’ll follow it with interest, Eric. And I should confess that I’d never before visited this site, and didn’t know much about you or it (I certainly did see and hear references to it before). And drilling down on your background, I see that you’re a Zen disciple, which I deeply respect. All I can ask is that you use your no doubt well-tuned intuition as your guide.

By: Eric

Eric — Wed, 10 May 2006 18:04:43 +0000

OK, John. I’m gonna accept Barack’s invitation and would have accepted the ODPs. Make of it what you will. You might be a bit surprised at what’s brewing. Stay tuned.

By: John Ettorre

John Ettorre — Wed, 10 May 2006 17:58:11 +0000

I didn’t say or even imply you’re a journalist. But I did say and imply you’re a writer, because you’re doing something we call writing. And sorry, but by the very act of writing, you’re creating an implied contract (not in the legal sense, but in the ethical) with your audience. A contract that says there is something standing behind your words (knowledge, facts, soul, a sense of fairness, whatever). And that contract is tampered with by your asking for or accepting freebies. I don’t know how much more simply I can explain this.

By: Eric

Eric — Wed, 10 May 2006 17:52:06 +0000

Jeff, bad math first off. Second, I already dig Obama. You think if I did not that a ticket to a dinner would change my take? You can be the judge whether a seat at the event affects anyone and their blogging. Then call them all on it.

John, I’m not a journalist. I’m not media. I’m a blogger activist. How is that different than offering tickets via a contest to other grassroots activists? My ethics will be judged by those that read and called out in comments for all to judge. This differs greatly from traditional media. I’m not sure about others, but I’ve never once claimed to be objective.

I have no problem being invited and comped to an event within a party I’m trying to work with. The issue for me is how little such party wants to work with me. My point remains that it is self defeating and a missed opportunity.

I don’t think among most readers that the disclaimer will be necessary. That is the beauty of the blogs. If I write a shining review of my meeting with Barack you can go ahead and claim it is because he bought me a ticket to a dinner, but it will most likely just be that I like the guy and his ideas. It will be for the readers to decide.

By: John Ettorre

John Ettorre — Wed, 10 May 2006 16:24:24 +0000

Wow! This was illuminating, to say the very least. The ODP functionary appears to have a far better grasp of the elemental values at stake here than do some otherwise serious bloggers. And this again highlights the crucial issue that won’t ever go away: ethics count, no matter how nervous that word makes some bloggers (because, presumably, they read it as an implied criticism of their lack of same). This really shouldn’t be very complicated. Lots of writers have been sitting in on City Club debates and other programs for years (me included). There’s a table for the media set aside for that purpose. I just make sure not to eat. Have I ever taken a sip of water or a drank a cup of coffee? Yes, occasionally. Would I eat an entire comped meal? Never.

By: Jeff Hess

Jeff Hess — Wed, 10 May 2006 11:00:39 +0000

Shalom Y’all,

I’m with Lisa and Roldo on this one.

So I would suggest that everyone who accepts the $150 gift from Sen. Obama should also do the following:

First, be sure to tell your readers in the first or second sentence of every post you ever write about the event or Sen. Obama that you received the $150 gift from him.

Second, be sure to claim the $150 on your Federal, State and Local income tax forms under gratuities.

Third, if I were one of Ohio’s newspaper reporters with an axe to grind I’d be all over this. Be prepared for the the snarky MSM headline:

“Sen. Obama donates $15,000 to ODP in Name of Bloggers.”

B’shalom,

Jeff Hess

By: Eric

Eric — Wed, 10 May 2006 03:50:14 +0000

…which is precisely what we’d do if we all raised money to send a few of us.