I attended a panel discussion at the Hudson Institute entitled Europe, America and the Blogosphere. Very interesting.
Although a little early and poorly-attended, the panel discussion at the Hudson Institute was very well-paneled, with luminaries such as Helen Szamuely, Gerard Baker, Noam Scheiber, and Mark Tapscott.
Of these panelists, I must say that I enjoyed listening to Helen Szamuely. Her charm is in her wit and brilliance, although she is also an expert in her field.
I was very surprised that blogging isn’t ubiquitous in Europe and Great Britain. Dr. Szamuely seems to believe it has more to do with respect for authority and a greater diversity or media publications and papers, many of which are shamelessly opinionated and leftists, centrist, or right. No attempts at being unbiased.
I also enjoyed listening to Mark Tapscott, director of the Heritage Foundation’s Center for Media and Public Policy.
I am ashamed to admit that I had not heard of the term fisking, “a rightwing blogosphere term describing ruthlessly detailed point-by-point criticism that highlights errors or other problems in a statement, article, or essay. It should be noted that these ‘errors’ do not necessarily refer to factual inaccuracies, but more often to perceived inaccuracies in the analysis of presented facts.” And I call myself a paleocon. For shame.
It was Mark Tapscott who recommended my next read, The Wisdom of Crowds by James Surowiecki, a book about which I will comment when I get a hold of it and read it through.
Cast of Characters:
Helen Szamuely is head of research for The Bruges Group (London) and one half of the Euro-skeptic blog www.eureferendum.blogspot.com. She writes regularly for The Bruges Group, the Centre for Research into Post-Communist Economies (CRCE), and TechCentral Station.
Gerard Baker is the Washington bureau chief for the Times of London.
Noam Scheiber is a senior editor at the New Republic and writes regularly for TNR’s The Plank.
Mark Tapscott is director of the Heritage Foundation’s Center for Media and Public Policy.
John O’Sullivan is a senior fellow at Hudson Institute and director of Hudson’s Center for European Studies.
