Blogger Bash is TONIGHT at 7 p.m.
Email from Kevin:
Tonight’s blogger bash at Donnellys. I’ve reserved the private room they have. One would go in the front door, turn left, go through another door, turn right, go straight through the bar (non smokers will have to hold their breath
) and the room is on the far side of the bar before one would go into the back dining room. The room is under my name as they wanted contact info. I’m planning to be there, but just in case I get hit by a bus or something.
Donnelly’s is located 4908 N Renwood Ave, near the corner Glen and War Memorial Drive. Here’s a map.
Billy Dennis is a former reporter and editor at small daily and weekly newspapers in Illinois and Missouri. He comments on media, news and politics. He also owns and operates 
Donnelly’s is located at Donnelly’s. How very Zen of you to say.
Cut and paste will bite you in the ass every time.
Will peeps still be there at 8:15ish? I’m teaching until 8.
@Kev: “but just in case I get hit by a bus or something.”
Try not to do that.
A serious, committed blogger would blow off class.
But peeps will be there at 8:15 p.m.
Marshmellow peeps?
It’s class with 8 year old girls. I don’t think blowing them off would be very nice.
I plan to attend, and will raise the issue of a Peoria bloggers organization. Bloggers need to forget their differences and organize so we are taken seriously as journalists, and not excluded from juvenile court or events restricted to “news media” only. We should be working to include bloggers in state laws protecting anonymous sources. You never know…
Put me on the agenda if there is one.
Agenda? I think Elaine has SERIOUSLY overestimated the degree of planning that goes into these events.
Seriously, we’ll bring it up and bandy the idea around.
Don’t forget your gavel and robe, Billy.
Elaine,
Mostly we drink. It’s an old-fashionedy sort of journalists’ gathering.
(Side note: When I was at ND, the old-time “news bar” in South Bend was still operating next to the South Bend paper, all run-down and shady and full of hard-drinking badly-shaven newspapermen every night playing pool or brooding in silence. It absolutely rocked. Except for the reek of despair that sorta sucked the fun out of high-spirited college drinking.)
Can I make a motion to add the Cubs game to tonights agenda?
Ruling from the bench: The Cubs game is hearby added to the agenda.
I don’t think I want to be taken seriously as a journalist. Have you seen my blog??
Seriously, I agree with your stance, Elaine. However, until bloggers are held to the same standards of accountability and accuracy as their fishwrap counterparts, you will be fighting a tough uphill battle.
Like that guy in Greek mythology that had to roll the rock up the hill, but it kept breaking. Man, that would suck.
Cory:
Bob and Tom aren’t journalists either, even though they are broadcast over the radio. Should no one on radio be considered a journalist until everyone on the radio is held to the same so-called “standards of accountability and accuracy” as newspaper publishers?
Blogging is nothing more than an electronic medium of delivery, just like radio or TV. You can’t just say that since (a) not all bloggers are journalists, therefore (b) no bloggers are journalists. That’s a non sequitur.
[...] There’s a blogger bash tonight at Donnelly’s, 4908 N Renwood Ave, near the corner Glen and War Memorial Drive. More info is available here. [...]
Not to throw gasoline on a fire, but I just heard a story last night about a self-proclaimed pedophile who runs a blog teaching other pedophiles how to lure children. Supposedly (from the tease), it’s legal. I understand y’all’s point about free and open media access, but does the legal system have any discretion to draw a line? I’d be curious if under the current system of only “journalists” being allowed in the courtroom, if certain more questionable publications (like the NAMBLA newsletter — I assume they have one) could have access. Assuming, of course, that they have journalists.
You know, I’ve heard about how some pedophiles might write letters to the editor. Lets place limits on that, too.
Straw man argument, Bill.
All I am saying is that the blog medium is new and we need to think about how it is applied in situations just like this. I guess I have a few questions: 1) Should juvenile court be restricted at all? 2) If it should be open only to family members and members of the press, what limits, if any, should be applied to the definition of “members of the press.” I have a MySpace page, which I sometimes post thoughts to — does that make me a citizen-journalist? Is the pedophile guy, or cat-blogger, a bona fide journalist, too. I agree that many bloggers do real journalism. CJ comes to mind locally (no offense, Bill, but lately you tend to bloviate rather than report) and the Talking Points Memo guy comes to mind nationally. But if the rules of the court are going to mean anything, it needs to distinguish somehow between blogger-journalists and just some guy. Otherwise, let’s just open the whole thing up.