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

27 December 2017 — 2147 mdt

Montana’s independent political blogs

Montana has six independent political blogs — blogs not officially attached to or formally affiliated with an organization — that generally publish at least five days a week, and one that publishes weekly. If there are others, please let me know.

BlogPolitical CharacterFrequency
Bigsky WordsDisruptiveDaily
Flathead MemoLiberalDaily
LogicosityDemocraticDaily
Montana CowgirlDemocraticDaily
Montana Post, TheDemocraticDaily
Reptile DysfunctionDisruptiveWeekly
Western Word, TheCentristDaily

In Montana, independent political blogs generally are volunteer operations that do not, and cannot, replace the mainstream media. Instead, they serve, on occasion, as informal fact-checkers; as scolds; as analysts; as provocateurs; as partisan cheerleaders. On occasion, they’re the first to report a story that the MSM then cover.

Sometimes they make a difference, as they did when they exposed the folly of repealing daylight saving time in Montana (The Montana Post, Flathead Memo, and The Western Word, all posted detailed reports on the issue), rescuing Montana from obnoxiously early sundowns.

Overall, independent political blogs make a significant contribution to the quality of reasoned discourse on Montana politics, and are followed closely by quite a few of Montana’s political and journalistic cognoscenti.

There’s one weakness in independent political blogging in Montana: sophisticated quantitative reporting. We need bloggers who are conversant with geographic information systems and statistics who can produce the kind of reports one finds at the New York Times’ Upshot, the Washington Post’s Wonkblog, FiveThirtyEight, Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia, and Sam Wang’s operation at Princeton. We need bloggers who could, for example, produce a map displaying educational attainment by legislative district and correlate that with the partisan complexion of the district.

Can that need be met in a state with a population so small and scattered? I don’t know. But I do know that Montana’s independent blogosphere and commercial news media need to be a better job of quantitative reporting.

As 2017 ends, my thanks to my fellow bloggers for their efforts, and to Montana’s journalists, many of whom work for media companies that do not always spend enough money on reporting the news. Today’s journalists are better educated and more professional than ever (many have graduate degrees, sometimes in journalism), and they should not be criticized for the failings of their employers. I look forward to working with all of you in 2018.