Bloggers and Reporters blur their roles.

As is the case for many of us, I am far away from New Orleans, home of my youth, and the various things going on at the House of Bishops meeting. More importantly I am far away from the Camilia Grill and the Napoleon House.


There is no justice. So here in Lewes on the bay and by the big blue water I rely upon a variety of reporters and bloggers on the spot. NOTE: TitusOneNine has given an extensive list of those groups with reporters, bloggers, etc, at the HoB meeting. See it HERE. Thanks to T19, which has elves doing the heavy lifting.

EpiScope and Episcopal Life online are the major "official" voices of TEC on the spot. Beyond that I look to the following: I am an irregular reader of the New York Times and keep an eye out for the writings of Neela Banerjee. I have appreciated the work of Stephen Bates of the Guardian /Observer and watch for his articles and blogs. I read George Conger and Stephen Waring in The Living Church online, and look in on George's blog as well. I know that Neela, Stephen, George and Steve are at the HoB meeting.

Several reporters now have blogs of their own and cross over between what gets published "out there," what gets published by others online, and what they post themselves. Sometimes we get a larger report from their blogs than we would from a newspaper publication.

Then there are online reporters who contribute to online pubications, complete with copyright notices, staffs, etc. Episcopal Cafe, Virtueonline, T19 and Stand Firm are examples of this sort of work, as are writers for several online publications supported by specific groups - Integrity, Anglicans United, etc. David Virtue and Matt Kennedy are at the meeting as are folk from the various organizations. AnglicanTV seems also to be around.

At that point the blurring of the lines between professional reporters, reporters for "established" online efforts, reporters for small independent groups with their own web pages and regular bloggers takes hold. BabyBlue, who's weaving of visuals, music and some actual reporting scoops has been a delight and frustration both, is in New Orleans, with credentials sufficient enough to get in the News Room.

She is quirky to the extreme. On the one hand her experimental "pan" of the News Room gaves an indication of the presence of some of the reporters I mentioned here. On the other hand she gossiped about "a sitting bishop" part of the Network who came into the News Room and took a photograph of Bishop Robinson in the News Room as well. Unfortunately she was unwilling to say just who the bishop was, what he said, etc. David Virtue said that all Bishop Robinson had to say was that he was going on vacation when this was over. No news there, but at least a follow-up to a sighting.

Most of the so called "liberal" bloggers are not in residence, as far as I can tell. Integrity is there. The Episcopal Majority is not there but its series by Tom Woodward on "The Undermining of the Episcopal Church" is.

My best liked venues for commentary - Thinking Anglicans, Episcopal Cafe, The Episcopal Majority and Fr. Jake are all settled in for the moment wherever we are, taking in what is being put out and trying to make sense of it all. We are not, on the whole, eating the bread of anxiety. We don't need to. The day is anxious for itself.

I do have to say I appreciate the "on site" reporters and bloggers. In particular Stand Firm has been good about finding and then publishing various of the proposed resolutions. The posting, in a variety of venues, of the televised newscast was helpful. Babyblue sent out simple videos of the sermon by the ABC that gave a flavor of the event.

All in all not much news, some background for news to come, and a good deal of commentary.

The news? Almost everything we see coming out is rehash of old positions. I think things are stuck and that some who believe their job is to rescue us all from stuck positions will put forward compromises that will be rejected. However, what is needed is not compromise, but promise - a new beginning for life together, where most of us can say, "Not farewell, but fare forward voyagers."