When we first started News Growl, we frankly did not have much of a plan. "Let's start a website," my friend Patricia McConnell suggested. "Let's see where it goes."
We wanted to have something unique, though. There are hundreds of political news websites out there. Patricia suggested having a fashion column, only possible because of the growing number of women entering politics. But who would write it? Pat was too busy, and it frankly couldn't have been me (those of you who know me will probably be giggling just to think of that idea). We found a friend of a friend named Gail Day, who has frankly been fantastic. Her (almost) weekly column has been a huge part of News Growl's success. But part of the deal to get her to agree to join us was to help her launch a site dedicated to fashion. That job did fall to me. I kept putting it off. Just getting News Growl going was hard. But now finally the new site is launched: Fashion Growl! I've been really impressed with the quality of the content, and it's looking likely this whole caper might become sustainable now (as a business, I mean). So look for more "growl" sites to come.... Great to see a News Growl reader link to my article about media contributions to the Andrew Cuomo campaign in their letter to the Post-Standard (in Syracuse, New York).
https://www.syracuse.com/opinion/index.ssf/2018/10/cuomo_molinaro_debate_should_have_included_minor_party_candidates_your_letters.html andrew cuomolarry sharpenew yorksyracuse So it's been a momentous week at our virtual News Growl HQ. We broke our fist ever genuine exclusive (Rebel GOP activists launch drive to draft Libertarians Larry Sharpe and Andrew Hollister) and we are just about to publish an interview we've been working on for several weeks (can't say who yet, of course), I had a column published in IVN, and then, using the same story, Reason Magazine published a Hit & Run column about the same issue citing my original News Growlarticle as a source!
So things have been stepping up a level recently. And our traffic figures have more or less doubled in the last couple weeks, which is encouraging. But you may have noticed another theme: more and more of this has been under my byline. Choosing who we put as the author for a lot of News Growl coverage has been pretty arbitrary sometimes. Pat McConnell and I both contribute to most of what appears on the site (except for the fashion articles which I rarely get involved with). But lately I've been doing more, partly because Pat has not been able to keep up the red-hot productivity levels she's managed for months, and also she's been away at a conference for several days. So it has left me more or less in charge. I'm pleased to say that, so far, it's gone well. Which has helped ease my sorrow about Sunday's performance by North Melbourne. Now out of the Eight, I can't help but wonder if losing to Essendon will turn out to be a key moment in the season, and not in a good way. Pat should be returning home soon and I'm looking forward to having her back full-time. We do have a lot more underway to tell you about soon! The story I wrote up about polling firms ignoring third party and independent candidates got more traction on Monday, when the Independent Voter Network let me write up more thoughts after my News Growl piece. Here it is: Top Pollsters Admit: Third Parties Get the Shaft Because of Bias, Desire for Ratings (I didn't write the title, by the way).I'm writing an article for News Growl about if any of the new Brexity parties that have appeared on the scene lately will inherit the space on the political spectrum vacated by UKIP.
I'm making a couple of assumptions here: 1) UKIP is on life support and will eventually expire (which may not actually be true) 2) That the populist, pro-Brexit right will not melt back into the Conservative or Labour parties, from whence they fled in the last decade. I am a Remainer, but I actually think there should be a party to replace UKIP. UKIP has proven there is a demand for a working-class, patriotic party that is sceptical of Europe and immigration. These are not positions that can ever be adopted by the mainstream Tories, or the increasingly left-dominated Labour party. Before UKIP appeared people of this persuasion either joined a really fringe group like the BNP (which was an out and out racist party, and totally different from the group that emerged within UKIP) or felt ignored and disenfranchised. Having a widespread political strain unrepresented in the national political discourse is not good for anyone. So even though I don't agree with most of UKIP's agenda, I think UKIP disappearing is a bad thing for Britain. So, those are my assumptions. But I also realise that creating a new national political party is very, very difficult. UKIP's successor will probably be determined by the organisational skill of its members and supporters more than its ideology. So I want to do a profile of the various parties that have spun off from UKIP recently to see if any have a chance of taking over. I've emailed the following groups: One Nation (Henry Bolton's new outfit), The Democrats & Veterans Party (led by former UKIPer John Rees Evans, For Britain (led by a former UKIP dignitary who's name escapes me at the moment), the Foundation Party (in the process of being founded by a former UKIP councillor) and Thurrock Independents (a group of Thurrock councillors who left UKIP en masse earlier this year). So far, only Thurrock Independents have responded. And as they have no aspirations for national government, they are an unlikely successor to UKIP nationally. Yesterday I tweeted to One Nation, the D&V Party, For Britain, and the Foundation Party. Still no response. Why is this so difficult? Do they not want the publicity, or do they not trust me? Or do they just not read and/or answer emails (if it is the latter then the chances of any of these parties being the next UKIP is a lost one I am sure). I hope one of the party leader reads this and gets in touch. The mainstream media is ignoring you. Feel free to get in touch! [email protected] The excellent article by News Growl editor Patricia McConnell (which went viral to the point that it broke our website for a few hours) has been quoted extensively in this piece on the Virginia Right blog by Elwood "Sandy" Sanders.
The subject, Senator Laura Ebke, is not strictly speaking a conservative, but she was a Republican until she resigned from the party in 2017. To win her seat in Nebraska she will need to win over voters who self-identify as conservative and not just libertarian. So, in a way, the fact that Pat's piece is spreading to websites that are not natural supporters is a great sign for Senator Ebke. I happen to know Pat is working on a follow up piece. I'm not sure it will get taken up as much as the last one, but we will be upgrading our servers just in case! |
AuthorSteve has many disparate and unconnected interests. This, he thinks, entitles him to claim the label "Renaissance Man." Archives
March 2019
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