agahran : MyBlogHer Profile

(NOTE: I posted this article today on the Poynter Institute's E-Media Tidbits blog, which is read mainly by professional journalists. I'm cross-posting it here because it's relevant to BlogHer.)  On Sunday the New York Times ran a front-page feature on a conference I recently attended: BlogHer 2008, the fourth annual conference for and about female bloggers. ...Well, front page of the Fashion & Style section, that is. Several bloggers complained that the Times article by Kara Jesella focused too heavily on stereotypically "girly" stuff -- from its lead ("For two days last week, many of the men's bathrooms at the Westin St. Francis Hotel here were turned into women's bathrooms."), to its details ("There was a lactation room, child care, and onesies for sale emblazoned with the words 'my mom is blogging this.'"), to its dismissive jabs ("It has since evolved into a corporate-sponsored Oprah-inflected version of a '60s consciousness-raising group.") I noticed these flaws when I first read the article. Nevertheless, I still said it was "pretty good." By that, I meant (and should have clarified at the time) "better than I expected from the Times, whose leaders reflexively slam bloggers as barbarians at the gate. Baby steps." Here are the good points as I see them...  Read more >