You can't "try to be like Daily Kos" for the same reason Europe can't try to be like America. Different people, different issues, different realities. Daily Kos developed out of a major historical crisis. In the olden days revolutionaries met in coffee shops and student unions and basements and barns. Now they meet online. The primacy of the need to effect radical political change is very real in America right now. In Europe, there doesn't seem to be the same need for people to drop what they are doing and devote their free time to LTEs and political campaigns and MeetUps.
Also, Daily Kos has positioned itself as a rather (dissapointingly) mainstream community. In doing so, Markos has garnered a HUGE audience, but it is also extremely difficult to discuss anything the majority of the people aren't comfortable with, disagree with, or know or care little about. So there is a real trade off between subject matter and audience size.
So what can European Tribune be? And do? I personally would like to see the following:
~First, you need to tell people why they should care about Europe and the issues facing it. It may seem obvious to us, but sometimes you have to state the obvious, repeatedly.
Fill in the blanks: "European politics/media/society are important because ___. Everyone should care about European politics/media/society because _____. "
~While I think more contributions from people in Europe is important, I don't see it as dire. I'm used to reading commentary on Russia by expats. It can get annoying, but it serves a purpose. That is, I think the subject matter is more important than the people writing it.
~More diaries are needed, but more encouragement is also needed. Putting a lot of effort into diaries that get few comments is tough. I'd ask people (and I need to work on this too) to be more generous with ratings and recommends and Front Paging, but also a little more discriminating. This is our, and especially the gnomes', chance to shape the site. When the rec list includes several American diaries also on the rec lists at Booman and Kos, Et looks like a carbon copy. When the FP is full of open threads, shoe blogging and meta meta stuff (all of which I love...) while something more substantial struggles to stay on the rec list or slides down the recent diaries list with few comments, it seems we're not doing our best to ENCOURAGE more diaries.
Also, when asked for more diaries, people respond by asking "about what?" You say, "anything you like." And we get 15 silly diaries. But it's probably ok to say, "we could use a diary on who is funding the major newspapers in Europe. Anyone want to do that?"
Enough bitching.
ET's strengths: Breakfast thread. Media watches. Weekly installations (trains, clocks, odds & ends...) Educational pieces explaining the political systems & parties. Investigative reporting (Chernobyl, pipelines, prostitution, alternative energy, economic models, etc...) Fun cultural stuff (books, movies, cheese, World Cup, etc...)
Ok, I've gone on enough. Keep up the good work & happy birthday. Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. -Voltaire
Ok.. I will say something worthy (sort of)...good diaries are tough work...and we generally try to make only good diaries. Funny.. sometimes I have thought we would need more diaries of any quality...We are not enough so the good ones could be front paged and the easy ones go to the rec list more often...We do not have that many.
Dropping a line about how much we liked the diary is easy.. but engaging in conversation is also difficult...Jerome is thinking about that when he uses the word organic growth.
But this is a personal opinion.. completely worthless.
A pleasure I therefore claim to show, not how men think in myths, but how myths operate in men's minds without their being aware of the fact. Levi-Strauss, Claude
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. -Voltaire
sort of.. because I doubt it is even worthy.... autosnark.
Thanks for the pic!!!
It is a reactionary pre-social market economy society business model.
Such a thing won't fly in the EU.
Here is what is happening on the Democratic Socialist Left in Europe:
The PES (Socialist Party Europe) offers the chance to become an activist on European level
On 9 May, Europe Day 2006, the Party of European Socialists launched PES activists.
Finally, 56 years after the speech of Robert Schuman which started the European integration, members of European Socialist, Labour and Social Democratic Parties can get directly involved into the policies of the Party of European Socialists.
The PES is a party of parties: There are 33 full member parties from the 25 EU member States, Norway, Romania and Bulgaria. In addition, there are 5 associate and 5 observer parties.
The PES was founded in 1992 following the Treaty on the European Union.
The PES activist network brings together individual members of European socialist and social democratic parties of this network.
The activists have the opportunity of involving themselves in the life of the European party and to strengthen European awareness in their national parties. Therefore the activists are an asset for the PES member parties, and they shall be an active link between the national and the European level.
Activists are able to get in touch with people from all parts of Europe, to share their knowledge and campaigning experience with other activists and to look for exchanges partners. Socialists across Europe have worked hard to establish national, regional and local democracies. The PES Activists shall take a step towards a European democracy and create grass roots solidarity between European political parties.
The activists will not be able to vote on PES decisions as on the congresses they are represented by their national parties. Nonetheless, the PES is asking for their views on important political discussions, as the main target of the project is a deeper political cooperation between Socialist, Labour and Social Democratic Parties in Europe. "The USA appears destined by fate to plague America with misery in the name of liberty." Simon Bolivar, Caracas, 1819
Ritter, you obviously never read any privately owned newspaper in Europe? :) Despite being in Brussels? Remember Schroeder and the German tabloid "Bild"? Or Blair in the UK and the "Sun"? Care to tell me why an American blog is worse than what is already happening here in Europe?
Mr Kos has no democratic legitimacy, he was never elected.
I wonder if Mr. Murdoch or any of the other media owners for example were ever elected. Murdoch in the UK, Springer in Germany?
It is purely dictatorial - depending solely on the insight and the benevolence of a handfull of individuals (co-owners of the business?). See also the banning politics. There is no financial oversight, no co - decision power of the activists (the diarists). The whole DKos business is based on the self exploitation of the writers and the appropriation of their labour by one individual.
Get a grip! It´s his website. (And no, I´m not defending his banning policy.) And lots of people are producing diaries. Including people from the UK and continental Europe. Just try to print Jerome´s diaries at the "Wall Street Journal".
Not to mention that the "handful of individuals" [front-pagers] get "elected" each year. If people don´t want to read them .... (Quite unlike officials in EU Brussels. I´m just saying...)
The whole DKos business is based on the self exploitation of the writers and the appropriation of their labour by one individual.
That would also be true of the "European Tribune". Guess what, the diary writers here don´t get paid too! So we should shut down the "European Tribune" immediately according to your rant.
The activists will not be able to vote on PES decisions as on the congresses they are represented by their national parties.
Gasp!!! The activists are "exploited" by the "Democratic Socialist Left". Not to mention "the appropriation of their labour by one individual" party.
Ritter, I´m very sorry but your post was simply stupid. Everything you said about DailyKos already exists in our European media! Except that it would be easier for me as a European citizen to publish a diary at DailyKos than get a letter to the editor published in a European newspaper. Or write a diary here at the "European Tribune".:)
You know what? I am declining the role of a party activist that isn´t allowed to vote on decisions.
Just stay in Brussels, decline me the right to participate, and then wonder why I don´t submit to the "wise" decisions you make.
Oh, thanks for reminding me. I was going to suggest that as a possible way to improve the site, too. ;D Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. -Voltaire
great response, you absolutely make my point by putting the Springer, Murdoch media tycoons on the par with Mr Kos' business model. They all try to blur the line between journalism and influencing political decisions made by elected members of parliament.
Kos even goes one step further - he hands out private money to politicians and influences the message of their election campaigns.
So there you have in a nutshell the difference between engaging in the political process in the US and the EU:
In the US politicians are bought with money from private donors in the hope of future kick backs.
In the EU party members engage in policy discussions and vote for election manifestos and then democratically elect their candidates to execute these policies, if supported by enough citizens at the general elections.
DKos is primarily NOT a news blog, it is on the contrary a privately owned and run political action group to collect money and to finance progressive Democratic Party candidates' election campaigns.
US laws make it possible, EU laws prohibit it.
ET functions well as a news blog on European affairs but will fail as a political action group.
To say it in Bullshit Bingo terms: In Europe there's no market for it. EU regulations forbid it.
PS. Even Berlusconi owned tv stations did not finance political candidates' election campaigns. "The USA appears destined by fate to plague America with misery in the name of liberty." Simon Bolivar, Caracas, 1819
ET functions well as a news blog on European affairs but will fail as a political action group. To say it in Bullshit Bingo terms: In Europe there's no market for it. EU regulations forbid it.
Well done. Only a year behind us on that piece of info. Thus the only way to influence is to engage in the debate and try to influence it.
We are not going to be a mouthpiece for or supporter of any particular party. I don't think we agree with any of them.
The US just formalises the arrangement better than most places.
Yup guaranteed to evoke a violent reaction from police is to challenge their right to "define the situation." --- David Graeber citing Marc Cooper
---
Did you read the short discription of the new European activists initiative?
It says that party members who are engaged in shaping the European agenda of their national parties, where they DO vote and GET elected, can now take advantage of the new European meta party structure in order to exchange ideas, gain insider knowledge about the workings of other parties, network, arrange joint working groups, kick start multilateral crossborder policy initiatives - all meant to be brought 'home' to their respective parties.
In short: Political activists on the grassroots (and higher) levels who are promoting the progressive European policy agenda are now able to create the instruments to interact within the framework of (what was it?) 33 socialist, socialdemocratic and labour parties.
We already do what Dr Dean still wants to accomplish and what Mr Kos collects money for. And we do it within a membership of several millions organized party members throughout the EU Member States and accession and candidate countries, as well as Israel, Iceland, Norway and yes...Ukraine and the Republic of San Marino, too. "The USA appears destined by fate to plague America with misery in the name of liberty." Simon Bolivar, Caracas, 1819
Why should I have to become a member of the PSOE of of the Labour party when what I want to get involved with is European politics?
Get back to me when the Party of the European Socialists accepts individual memberships. guaranteed to evoke a violent reaction from police is to challenge their right to "define the situation." --- David Graeber citing Marc Cooper
I am always looking for interesting...primarily European (though sometimes international) diaries to post on the front page. I also raid Fran's Breakfast thread for articles. And one of the things that helps me in my frontpage search is the way diaries are formatted. As far as I can remember, the gnomes have never even discussed this, but it has evolved in the front-page scheme of things that it is nice to be able to see at least two story titles on the page. Its a pleasing esthetic to me...more news to look at. Other blogs will have huge front page stories...we don't tend to do that...we give the opening paragraph or two, then its below the fold. But...some people who write really well, and interesting, informative stuff have a very long first page, before moving "below the fold"...often I will see if I can change where the fold is, and if I can easily, I just do that. But some people's work (like yours) I don't feel like I should touch it...it would require too much editing, and I don't feel that would be right of me. Like your recent Russian and Polish pieces. So I end up not front-paging it, though I'd really like too, because they are good.
Also the problem I see with too long front pages is that it is often hard to get the point of the message (though this is generally not an issue with your writing, Poemless)...I think it is best if you can look at the first paragraph and get what is being said, because then you have a persons interest. There's a lot of stuff I just don't read because it didn't grab me right off...and I believe it is why many diaries slide down the page, no opening message that tells the reader what it is about (and also timing is an issue)...but, maybe I'm just lazy.
Let's see...my point, oh...I'd like to front page more of your stuff, but would like to ask for a shorter first part (I mean, if you are interested...).
Oh well, maybe it wasn't interesting after all... "Once in awhile we get shown the light, in the strangest of places, if we look at it right" - Hunter/Garcia
As a rule I make the break after the first story, and I usually do about 3 stories in each "odds & ends." In other diaries, I just break it where it seems logical, but I don't mind you moving the break higher up if you want to front page it. It shouldn't require deleting anything, right? Just insert the break higher.
...
Did I do a Polish piece??? Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. -Voltaire
(Yes, I think...didn't you just do a piece on the gay parade in Poland?? Oh, hmm, maybe I'm confusing it with the Russian one...who did that then??) "Once in awhile we get shown the light, in the strangest of places, if we look at it right" - Hunter/Garcia
