Newest DC Job Title Handles Bloggers

Many businesses and public relation firms have done it for years now, but not politicians. It seems that has changed, as more and more campaigns and congress members staff a communications person to exclusively handle blogger outreach. The job title, "blogger relations" got the profile-treatment from Politico, which detailed the growth of this budding profession. And in the profile, it gave some insight in what it means to work with political bloggers on a day-to-day basis, which means they're doing more than just handling journalists. "I'm not interested in getting a quote or a scoop, so somebody who understands both the issues and motivations for their boss's effort well enough to explain it is very useful to me. They're almost more like policy people," said [Washington Post blogger Ezra] Klein, who interacts with blogger outreach staff on the Hill and at think tanks. "The blogger folks are dealing with a mix of reporter-bloggers and activists because the world of bloggers has enlarged," said Klein. "Just as blogging has professionalized quite dramatically, this position has had a similar trajectory." This multi-faceted PR professional also has to pitch differently than typical communications officials. The "mainstream press wants to attribute more, not less. But there are certain bloggers who don't mind giving off the impression that they had a brilliant idea all on their own, without any information from sources," said [vice president at Hynes Communications Liz]Mair. "With these bloggers, if you want your candidate's name on a post, you have to explicitly tell them. The sourcing is different." Understanding the media atmosphere means a politician can control the political message better. It's not surprising to see these jobs open up, but it was a long-time coming. Photo by kpwerker

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Newest DC Job Title Handles Bloggers

Ryan Derousseau

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Ryan Derousseau