A reality based independent journal of observation & analysis, serving the Flathead Valley & Montana since 2006. © James Conner.

4 February 2016

Are Montana’s independent political bloggers a vanishing breed?

The Missoula Independent asks that question in a 4.500-word article by Alex Sakariassen in which Flathead Memo is mentioned:

In the progressive world, Singer feels the migration to social media opened another void as well. As some of Montana’s most celebrated blogs faded, newer blogs weren’t coming in to fill the space. James Conner’s long-running Flathead Memo kept on with its usual mix of hyper-local, state and national posts, albeit with no comment boards. Other blogs like Alexis Bonogofsky’s East of Billings arrived with a more narrow geographic focus. None seemed to quite fill the same shoes as 4&20 Blackbirds and Left in the West.

“It feels to me like genuine newcomers stopped coming into the space in 2009 and 2010,” Singer says. “Cowgirl either already was up and running by then or was soon to be, and Pogie was up and running by then. But new things stopped and eventually the folks who had been there were leaving, so the conversation becomes less vibrant.”

The issue Singer takes with social media is that, unlike the progressive blogs of old, it doesn’t ground people in community. Singer cites the rise of Black Lives Matter, a movement that is “strong in a bunch of places” yet “very much rooted in Twitter.” At the end of the day, Singer says, those protesters moving from community to community are talking about police and judges and prosecutors — in other words, elected officials. “And if you want to figure out how to deal with that,” he adds, “you need to have shit rooted in that community that can respond.”

The Independent did not mention the emergence of Reptilian Dysfunction from the collapse of 4and20blackbirds, or the December, 2015, launch of Logicosity, which is posting daily and already is a lively participant in Montana’s online political discussion.

But are independent political bloggers who post regularly and frequently a fading breed in Montana? No. They’re an evolving breed.