The first Dakota Blog Alliance conference in Sioux Falls was quite the time. Not only did John Hinderocker of Power Line give quite the talk, but the inestimatably Jon Lauck of Daschle v. Thune had a presentation that contained more substance in 30 minutes than most can manage in days. (He alsoposts a picture of the motley crew of the DBA…)
The conference dealt mainly with the ever-present bias of the Sioux Falls Argus-Leader, the state’s largest newspaper that has a virtual monopoly on print journalism in the state. What’s interesting is how much research people like Lauck and Jason Van Beek have done in finding out about “the dean of South Dakota political reporting” David Krantz, including finding memos buried deep in old archives indicating Krantz’s conflicts of interest when it comes to the Democratic Party. This is an example of the kind of investigatory journalism that the media was supposed to provide, but has now largely become the domain of the blogosphere.
And of course, no conference would be complete without an excursion to the local watering hole. In this case it was Long Shots Bar and Grill which was not only a gracious host for a bunch of thirsty bloggers, but has some great food as well.
I’ll also be joining up with the other Dakota Alliance bloggers to cover South Dakota issues, especially the key Dasche/Thune race which will be one of the hottest races in the country. Look for more on this race both here and at Red State…
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