To receive invitations to future BlogCalls, please submit your credentials here.
12/14/07 BlogCall11 with a Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee who wrote an op-ed calling for immediate impeachment hearings for Vice President Dick Cheney - but none of the nation's leading newspapers would publish it.
10/13/05 BlogCall10 with David Swanson of AfterDowningStreet.org discussing the netroots-funded poll that found a virtual majority of Americans - 50% to 44% - want Congress to consider impeaching President Bush if he lied about the war in Iraq.
8/10/05 BlogCall9 with Cindy Sheehan of Gold Star Families for Peace, who is protesting outside George Bush's "ranch" in Crawford Texas so she can meet with Bush to ask him: "Why did my son die?" and "What was the noble cause that he died for?"
4/19/05 BlogCall8 with Brad Friedman of BradBlog.com, exposing the American Center for Voting Rights (ACVR) as a Republican front group with close ties to James Baker, the architect of Stolen Election 2000 and the Republican-controlled Baker-Carter Commission on Election Reform.
4/12/05 Blogcall7 with Andy Stephenson, Education Director of Vote Trust USA.
4/5/05 Blogcall6 with David Swanson of DebtSlavery.org exposing the credit card industry's corrupt campaign to push its atrocious Bankruptcy Bill through the House of Representatives this week - and the grassroots campaign by bloggers and activists to stop it.
3/29/05 BlogCall5 with David Donnelly of The Daily Delay and WithoutDeLay.org exposing the backlash against Tom DeLay arising from his exploitation of Terri Schiavo.
3/22/05 BlogCall4 with Greg Palast of GregPalast.com on the battle within the Bush administration between neoconservatives and the oil giants over who would profit from Iraq's oil. After the deaths of over 1,500 U.S. soldiers and over 100,000 Iraqi civilians, BlogCall4 will ask: "Was it all about oil?"
3/15/05 Blogcall3 with John Byrne and Larisa Alexandrovna of RawStory.com about how Tom Delay's extravagant overseas trips were illegally funded by a "charity" called NCPPR
3/8/05 BlogCall2 with Brad Friedman of BradBlog.com and Clint Curtis on the Tom Feeney / Yang Enterprises / Touchscreen Vote-Rigging Scandal.
2/24/05 BlogCall1 with John Aravosis of AmericaBlog.com on the Jeff Gannon/Jim Guckert scandal.
Q. What is BlogCall?
BlogCall is a conference call hosted by progressive and Democratic "bloggers" to discuss exposes of Republican and rightwing crimes and scandals that deserve national media attention. We invite mainstream journalists to participate fully in each BlogCall.
Each BlogCall features a progressive or Democratic "blogger" who has broken a major expose. The format is a virtual press conference, in which the featured "blogger" will present his/her story for 15 minutes, followed by 30 minutes of Q&A about the story.
Q. Why was BlogCall created?
Because progressive "bloggers" (including investigative reporters) cannot get their important exposes covered in the mass media - unlike rightwing bloggers, who get their lies and smears covered immediately on the DrudgeReport, Rush Limbaugh, FOX News, Joe Scarborough, and the rest of the Rightwing Media.
Q. What are the specific objectives of BlogCall?
- To share knowledge of important exposes across the large community of progressive bloggers
- To "highlight" each expose by encouraging BlogCall participants to feature the expose in their own forums and to help each featured blogger get covered in the MSM. This activity will be led by the Publicity Committee.
- To "deepen" each expose by generating ideas for leads and by enlisting dedicated bloggers in pursuing those leads. This activity will be led by the Investigation Committee.
- To persuade the MSM to cover BlogCall exposes through grassroots media activism
- To encourage focused collaboration among groups of bloggers and activists using productivity-enhancing tools like FreeConference.com and Yahoogroups
Q. How do we define "bloggers"?
BlogCall is for progressive "bloggers" who do investigative research and reporting. We also include traditional investigative reporters, editors, producers, talk show hosts, and media activists who share the ideals of blogging:
- Doggedly searching for the truth in defiance of the condemnation, ridicule, dismissal, or denial of the corporate, political, and media establishments
- Treating the Internet as a serious public record through discriminating use of research tools like Google, WHOIS, Wayback Machine, Alexa, Technorati, and Wikis
- Identifying and linking to credible primary sources, while discrediting bogus sources
- Giving credit where credit is due, including little-known bloggers
- Giving readers the opportunity to comment and taking those comments seriously
Promptly correcting errors- Giving back to the blogging community
Q. How does BlogCall work?
- Each call features a hot expose by a progressive blogger chosen by the Program Committee
- 3 minute welcome and introduction by BlogCall host Bob Fertik
- 15 minutes presentation by the featured blogger (with supporting witnesses or experts invited by the blogger)
- 30 minutes Q&A - press 6 to un-mute yourself, wait for a quiet moment, state your name and ask a concise question (30 seconds max), then press 6 to re-mute yourself and wait for the answer
- 5 minutes for quick announcements on other important topics - press 6 to un-mute yourself, wait for a quiet moment, state your name and make a concise announcement (30 seconds max), then press 6 to re-mute yourself and let others make their announcements
Q. What happens after a BlogCall?
- We invite call participants to share their immediate thoughts in the post-call blog at http://democrats.com/blogcall# (where # changes with each call, starting with 1)
- We will post a tape and transcript as quickly as we can
- Members of the Publicity Committee will help the featured blogger publicize the expose to the MSM. (For example, Geoff Staples will interview featured bloggers on RadioLeft.com)
- Members of the Investigations Committee will help the featured blogger break new ground in the expose
- We encourage the featured blogger to use collaborative tools like Yahoogroups and FreeConference.com to allow dedicated bloggers to work together to advance the story
Q. How often will BlogCalls occur?
- Initially once per week (Tuesdays) starting March 8
- Then twice per week (Tuesdays and Thursdays)
- We will also schedule Urgent BlogCalls when fast-breaking news requires them
Q. What exposes will BlogCalls cover?
Here is a list of topics under consideration.
Q. Who can participate in BlogCalls?
BlogCalls are open to Working Members, Honorary Members, and Guests.
Working Members form the core of BlogCall. They are selected by the Administrative Committee from the best progressive bloggers (for example, Koufax Award winners). They are encouraged to join one of the standing committees:
- Administrative Committee: manages credentials, conference call mechanics, audio archives, etc.
- Program Committee: chooses featured blogger for regular BlogCalls and schedules Urgent BlogCalls as needed
- Publicity Committee: works with featured bloggers to get as much MSM publicity as possible for their exposes; also publicizes BlogCall itself
- Investigation Committee: works with featured bloggers to break new ground in the expose
- Transcription Committee: provides prompt and accurate transcriptions of each call
Honorary Members have a standing invitation to participate in every BlogCall:
- Alumni Committee: featured bloggers who have presented to a BlogCall
- Honorary Committee: nationally-known progressive and Democratic leaders - just contact us for BlogCall credentials
Guests: mainstream journalists who are actively covering the particular BlogCall topic. Guests must contact us (please specify "BlogCall" as your reason) and provide links to your current work.
Q. Can others join BlogCall?
At the outset we are using FreeConference.com, which has a limit of 100 participants.
If a large number of bloggers and activists would like to participate, we will consider paid conference call systems, but we would have to charge participants roughly $5 per call to cover the costs.
Q. How do BlogCall participants find out about each BlogCall?
When your participation is approved, we will add you to the FreeConference system.
A day or two before each BlogCall, you will receive an e-mail from the FreeConference system with the phone number and PIN. The "From" address will be "Democrats Com" <reservation-#####@conferencemgr.com>, where #### will change each time. If you have a spam filtering program, try to whitelist "@conferencemgr.com". The phone number will be a local phone number somewhere in the U.S., but will not be toll-free - that's how FreeConference.com can offer its service for free.
Due to the limitations of FreeConference.com (100 participants), participation in BlogCalls will be on a first-come-first-served basis. The RSVP system will accept more than 100 participants, but the phone-in system will not - so dial in early to make sure you get a line!
Q. What was the original idea behind BlogCall?
Read Bob Fertik's Blogging Truth to Power: How Progressive Bloggers Can Break through the MSM Blackout to Get Coverage for our Exposes
Q. Who helped turn this idea into reality?
Karyn Altman, Tom Ball, Jim Bryant, Ben Burch, Noah Diamond, Ralph Dratman, Brad Friedman, Carolyn Kay, Geoff Staples
