Without downplaying the efforts or results of citizen journalists and credential-sharing bloggers, The Gray Lady, for one, did a thorough job tonight covering the DNC’s stadium finale. Live blogging by Kathleen Q. Seelye, with dispatches incorporated as they came in—from Invesco-based and pool (stationed with the Obama motorcade) reporters—packed a few well-organized punches. In addition to straight up coverage of Obama’s nomination acceptance speech, here is some of what The New York Times tendered:
Details: Obama’s entrance eliciting two minutes and twenty seconds of applause, Michelle Obama’s “thumbs up,” the oversized flags, Obama’s use of strong, active verbs
Little notes: Obama omits race in discussing paternal responsibility. First half hour focuses on the economy and working-class Americans. Obama doesn’t say how he’ll fight al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan. McCain was half-joking when he defined “rich” as a $5 million paycheck.
Some Snark:
-“It’s already clear that one fear of the Obama campaign — rain — is not a threat.”
-“In the event of an emergency, MOVE AWAY FROM THE STADIUM, we’re told.”
-“All the Republican talk about his ‘celebrity’ status hasn’t inhibited his high-wattage smile.”
-calling Al Gore the “Goracle” (‘nuff said)
A fair amount of good scene-setting prose:
-“From our view — where a break in the stadium seating offers a glimpse of the highway overpass nearby, throngs and throngs more moved toward here in a steady stream.”
-“Earlier, long long lines wound their way around the perimeter and other lines spilled out over fields nearby as people waited for buses to bring them here.”
-(About the Obama tribute video) “It’s like being at a drive-in movie, the lights are dim, the breezes cool. Considering this is a story told over and over again to the party faithful, the rapt attention the audience is paying to the video is striking.”
Extras: frequent Twitters (Howard Wolfson quotes, 30,000 text sign-up alert); readers’ queries (about roll call procedure, the Bradley Effect) answered by reporters on the NYT political desk
Quick Follow-up: McCain spokesperson Tucker Bounds rebuttal, Hillary Clinton reaction statement
The MSNBC live feed embedded into the NYT blog wasn’t half bad either, though every time you hit refresh in order to see the latest blog posts, the video got cut off and you had to restart it after it reloaded. It was better to grab the live feed off MSNBC.com or CNN.com directly, and read the NYT blog at will, in a different window. Ah, the many options of our time.
Jane Kim is a writer in New York.