Rising above the fray
They say all politics is local, and IlliniPundit.com proves that point on a daily basis. Whether it's the final days of a heated mayoral campaign or deep in the doldrums between elections, there will still be hundreds of folks in Champaign-Urbana wanting to talk politics. IlliniPundit gives them an online forum for that urge. When site creator Gordy Hulten (pictured at left) reorganized the site in 2006 to more of an open discussion from its earlier Republican incarnation, he wanted "as many voices to be heard as I could possibly allow."
With over 200 contributors (25 or so of those regular writers), the political blog is well on the way to that goal. That helps keep the pressure of writing light on Hulten's shoulders. "If I decide not to write something on Tuesday, it's not like there's a gaping hole on the site," he said.
Hulten, who works for the Devonshire Group as a marketing and government relations representative, as well as doing campaign work for U.S. Representative Tim Johnson, started blogging anonymously shortly after the 2004 election. "In the 2004 elections, I wasn't very active, for whatever reason. I was burned out after 2002, pretty much, and I was frustrated with myself," Hulten recalled. "I started Illini Pundit to have an outlet for that, as a way to get more plugged in to the local scene that I'd sort of dropped out of."
After a couple of years of blogging as IlliniPundit, Hulten stepped out from behind the curtain of anonymity and began blogging under his real name. However, he didn't reveal that he and IlliniPundit were one and the same until after the 2006 election. "I decided I wanted to take ownership of it," Hulten noted, "so at that point I stood up and said, 'I'm Illini Pundit, I've been here all along.' "
Since then, IlliniPundit.com has operated mostly as it currently does, accepting blog entries from members of the community. While the site still leans to the right, Hulten hopes to balance things out a little in the future. "I've got a few regular commenters or contributors that are way, way to the left of me," he said. "I'd like to figure out some way to get them to feel more empowered, more involved, like they own the site more than they do now."
Hulten is able to maintain a certain amount of decorum, despite the naturally divisive nature of the subject matter. Compared to more innocuous topics like sports or even parenting, he says, the tenor of the conversation is less vicious than might be expected. He maintained, "We've established a tone where we ask for respectful discussion, and for the most part, people agree to live by those rules."
As he looks back on the history of the site, Hulten's warmest memory is breaking the Chief Illiniwek retirement story. "I had a couple of people that tipped me off about 24 hours early that the Board of Trustees was going to announce that they were going to retire Chief Illiniwek," Hulten related. "The funny thing for me was that all my friends that are regular reporters, that write for the Tribune and all these papers across the state, were trying to get ahold of me to find out who my sources were.
"And it was just nice to be first and to say, 'I don't need to run this by an editor, I don't need to reveal my sources,' I can just run with it with absolute certainty that it's going to happen, and I was right."
IlliniPundit.com has maintained a symbiotic relationship with The News-Gazette. "I'm just a place that enables discussion of what The News-Gazette does," he explained. "We give them some stuff ... but for the most part, they're leading the way and we're analyzing what they do and discussing what they do."
Despite the current struggles of the newspaper industry, Hulten had warm words for both The News-Gazette and its radio sibling. "We're really lucky that we have The News-Gazette because of their ownership, they the way they're structured," he said. "They're local, they're not a Gatehouse company. We're lucky to have The News-Gazette, we're lucky to have WDWS, because the way they create value for themselves and the community is by doing things that nobody else does: local news."
Hulten hopes to fill a gap in local news coverage with more video content on IlliniPundit.com. He added, "There's a huge, gaping hole in this community. You know, we had an important school board meeting last night, and the 10 percent of the town that gets it on cable access and the three people that watched it [were able to see it], but there's no archive of the meeting, nothing like that. [IlliniPundit.com could] be the place of record for local government, local politics."
No matter what you think of his politics, Hulten runs a tight ship at IlliniPundit.com, contributing to the local political discussion and allowing for others to share their views.
——
There are many tremendous bloggers in Champaign-Urbana, and this column will recognize them one blog at a time. Every other Tuesday, we’ll shine a light on a different outstanding local blog, explaining how they got started and revealing what keeps them going and where they’re headed. If you know a local blog that you’d like to see profiled in this space, send me a tip at joelgillespie [at] smilepolitely [dot] com.
——
If you enjoyed this article, Smile Politely also recommends:
+ Going it alone
+ Meet the little blogger on the prairie
+ Zealous about Illini baseball
15 comments
Gordy Hulten
Thanks to SmilePolitely.com and Joel for the very well-done article.
I joined up a couple of weeks ago. It seems like IP has a fairly even split of lleft and right-leaning posters. But that might be a matter of timing.
It’s fun to watch the anonymous flame wars between the partisans.
I think that Joel’s characterization of Illini Pundit as “contributing to the local political discussion” is just broad enough to be true, because he didn’t add “positively” as a modifier. I do not share Rob’s sentiment that “It’s fun to watch the anonymous flame wars between the partisans.“ Nor do I believe that partisan flamebait and those swallowing it create useful dialogue. Rather, I see this type of discussion further entrenching views people already hold.
There is a certain viciousness, a “Get em!“ mentality to many of the posts on Illini Pundit. Witness the “reporting” by the NG on Toni Fabri, and the “commentary” by IlliniPundit on that reporting. This is gotcha journalism. The left has it too (Democracy Now!), and I find neither inspiring. (This is not a defense of Mr. Fabri. It’s disappointment with the type of reporting that occurred.)
I am glad that Joel has profiled Gordy, but the entire profile lacks a single critical look at the forum itself. It isn’t “good” because Gordy says it’s good. It isn’t “good” because people frequent it. Joel says “Hulten is able to maintain a certain amount of decorum, despite the naturally divisive nature of the subject matter.“ Really? Is that Joel’s opinion, or based on some research, or a line from Gordy? It’s hard to tell.
What’s more, the article includes an implicit propagation of a puzzling and persistent myth: that the News-Gazette/WDWS/WHMS conglomeration’s status as an independently owned media outlet covering local news in a world with dwindling media independence should exempt it from critical examination. Gordy writes “the way they create value for themselves and the community is by doing things that nobody else does: local news.“ So does the Booze News. The existence of local news coverage is nice and all, but couldn’t we take a deeper look? “They [sic] way they’re structured” doesn’t do much for the number of viewpoints represented on their editorial pages, does it? Well, I guess it does if you have a vested interest in seeing conservative views continue to flourish in the 22nd Congressional District. From Gordy’s Linked-in profile, we find “Marketing and operations in technology, government relations, politics and real estate development, particularly the opportunities presented at the convergence of those fields.“ Gordy isn’t just “doing campaign work for U.S. Representative Tim Johnson” as the article states. He’s chair of his campaign, and has been for over two years.
Media and politics and money make for an intoxicating Kool-Aid, but we don’t necessarily want to drink it without reading the label.
Robert Knilands
I just wanted to follow up on the excellent post from cpopetz.
I think IlliniPundit has the same problem that many other blogs do: It’s blatantly biased, and it allows anonymous posters to take shots at named people, even those who are not public figures.
Gordy Hulten may take pride in “not having to run things by an editor,“ but those are significant weaknesses that harm, if not destroy, the credibility of the site.
Also, to echo the previous sentiment, the N-G’s ownership status does not automatically make it a good paper. Yes, it does avoid the complications that come with chain ownership. But behind the scenes, the paper is guilty of the same pattern of bad moves the chains make. It built a printing plant, presumably to handle its Tribune contract, and then it lost the Tribune contract.
Likely as a result (I say likely because newspapers fail to disclose the same details they expect other businesses to release), the paper has quietly been cutting its staff. I’d like to be more specific with numbers and techniques (layoffs, buyouts, etc.), but again, the newspaper fails to disclose this information.
The N-G’s editorials of late also suffer from the context of the failed trickle-down/supply-side economic policies that have led to class warfare and a legacy of national debt. In addition, the paper used statements from a health-care industry shill to defend the current, badly flawed, and failing health insurance system.
In summary, there may be a number of people who see nothing wrong with slamming anyone who wants to change the flawed systems that prevent anyone outside of the entrenched wealthy from improving their lot in life. But let’s know their names and their true motivations.
Thank you very much for the constructive criticism, Clint. And also for catching a typo on my part. Your points are well-taken.
As to the bit about the decorum present on IlliniPundit, that has been my experience in the (admittedly limited) time that I’ve spent on the site. I’d like to present as an example the fairly even-handed way that the laurelprussingmayor.com issue was handled last week (the article would have been improved by including an example such as that).
For better or worse, these blogger profiles aren’t meant to look especially critically at the subjects or their claims. Definitely, the stakes are higher when someone’s talking about media ownership rather than the Illini baseball team’s chances this season, but I’m trying to introduce the reader to the blogger’s point of view rather than pass judgment on it. Sorry to be such a wuss, but I’d rather let the folks running the blogs to at least have their say. As for whether they’re full of it or not, that’s for readers and commenters to decide, IMHO.
And last, an examination of the ownership structure of C-U media outlets and how that affects their coverage of certain issues would be a fantastic topic for a Smile Politely article. If anyone wants to tackle that one, I would be honored to edit it.
Sorry to be such a wuss, but I’d rather let the folks running the blogs to at least have their say. As for whether they’re full of it or not, that’s for readers and commenters to decide, IMHO.
I think that’s a fair approach to take, as long as you state it in an italicized preamble or postamble of this type of profile. Otherwise you are giving an implicit endorsement, in my opinion.
The other thing I think that is worth considering is the sphere of influence your target blogger already yields. Someone like Kristin Tennant isn’t already wielding undue influence, and you aren’t at risk of complicity when profiling her. It’s not clear to me that this is the case with Gordy, so more care is warranted, I think.
Wanker
I think IP.com is a very popular site that deserves the profile because of the readership it brings in every week. And it is a good place to engage in political dialogue about local and national news.
However, I know several liberals who have stopped posting at this site because of the lack of moderation. Apparently Gordy will tolerate (or perpetuate) almost anything when it involves insults toward liberals, but throws a fit if liberals insult conservatives.
It is not an un-biased site, but it is entertaining if you can tolerate lots of angry conservatives.
Brenda Koenig
I’ve been reading IP on and off for several years now, and yes, it is far from a perfect world for many of the reasons cited above. However, I appreciate it for the often in-depth, serious conversation about issues that are important to the people in this county….there is no other public forum as comprehensive as IP that almost exclusively facilitates this kind of important discourse…
In addition, I find that if I have a question about what is going on “behind the scenes”, I often find the answer on IP. All the important under the table stuff that the N-G doesn’t report because, for many of the reasons cited above, the N-G just isn’t willing or able (with a few notable exceptions) to really promote/support that kind of investigative reporting (you know, the kind of article that is comprehensive, in-depth and well-balanced while also being risky and thought-provoking…the kind that is more than just a sound-bite)
And IP provide a valuable, if mostly incidental, service to people who lead busy lives and can’t make it to the county board/city council/school board meetings (or who don’t even have the time to watch it on public access)...often, I find out what happened on IP in a nutshell.
Yes, I would love for IP to offer more balanced points of views, because in my experience, the truth often lies somewhere in-between. Yes, I get tired of Gordy’s “market-based” arguments, as even-handed as they are often offered-up…And yes, I get fed up and stop reading, often for months at a time…but as I tell friends, “It is good to understand people’s thought-processes, especially because we tend to clump together with people who think like we do.“ IP offers another look at the world, and allows voyeurs like me the opportunity to step up to the light…
Robert Knilands
“Apparently Gordy will tolerate (or perpetuate) almost anything when it involves insults toward liberals, but throws a fit if liberals insult conservatives.“
I can see that. My issue, though, is anonymous people being allowed to throw whatever they can at the wall to see what will stick.
“Yes, I get tired of Gordy’s “market-based” arguments, as even-handed as they are often offered-up”
There are market-based arguments, and there are flat-out self-serving and ignorant ones. His stance on health care, for example, seems to be: “The current system works for me, so it should work for everyone.“
Um, OK. But the last number I saw showed only about 62 percent of people having employer-based health insurance, and that number continues to shrink. And even that doesn’t include excluded or pre-existing conditions, deductibles, miscellaneous denials, etc.
There’s no reason to be ignorant on this issue. Paul Krugman came to campus about three years ago and gave a very informative speech on the issue. (Of course, I’m sure the response might be: “He’s liberal.)
“And last, an examination of the ownership structure of C-U media outlets and how that affects their coverage of certain issues would be a fantastic topic for a Smile Politely article. If anyone wants to tackle that one, I would be honored to edit it.“
I’ve already done some research on that one. If someone wants to collaborate on the work, I’m open to it, but I have no intention of doing all the heavy lifting and then handing off the finished product.
Gordy Hulten
Just wanted to respond to a couple of comments.
cpopetz: “From Gordy’s Linked-in profile, we find “Marketing and operations in technology, government relations, politics and real estate development, particularly the opportunities presented at the convergence of those fields.“ Gordy isn’t just “doing campaign work for U.S. Representative Tim Johnson” as the article states. He’s chair of his campaign, and has been for over two years. “
Your entire comment was full of constructive criticism both of the profile and IP.com, and I appreciate that, but wanted to respond specifically to the quote above. I manage the campaign operations of Congressman Tim Johnson’s campaign, but he doesn’t pay me to blog, we don’t discuss what I write, I try to avoid blogging about him if possible, I disclose my relationship with him every time I do mention him on the blog, and I explicitly mentioned that I work for him at the beginning of my interview with Joel. While I understand that sort of work instantly discredits me in some eyes, I think the best way to deal with it to be as transparent as possible, and that’s what I try to do.
I also think that touches on one of the best things about blogging - it allows for people to easily write about the things for which they have passion, or on which they have some experience or expertise. I can write about politics, elections, polling, campaign finance, election law, etc. with a perspective that’s a little different. As long as I’m up front about my affiliations and biases, which I think I am, the reader can judge for themselves the merits of my perspective and what I write. Some value it; many don’t. But another beauty of the medium is the myriad of choices. I’m certainly not the only person writing about politics online, even locally, and so those who don’t appreciate my perspective have plenty of other options.
Wanker: “However, I know several liberals who have stopped posting at this site because of the lack of moderation. Apparently Gordy will tolerate (or perpetuate) almost anything when it involves insults toward liberals, but throws a fit if liberals insult conservatives.“
I respectfully disagree. I don’t do much moderation at all, but do often urge civility or scold pettiness. People often feel singled-out when I do that, so I get a lot of complaints from both liberals and conservatives that I’m not being fair. I probably hear more of it from conservatives because I interact more with them offline, but I often read elsewhere (like here) that some liberals don’t feel welcome. That’s extremely disappointing to me.
Despite my efforts, I can’t please everyone, so I simply try to strike a balance in maintaining civility without being too heavy-handed. My goal from the start with IP.com was to have a place to discuss local politics, even (especially) with people who disagree with me, and to try to limit disagreements to policies and issues rather than personalities. I work diligently at it, but I know it doesn’t always work, and there are always people who don’t respect the request for civility. Which brings me to…..
Robert Knilands: “I think IlliniPundit has the same problem that many other blogs do: It’s blatantly biased, and it allows anonymous posters to take shots at named people, even those who are not public figures.
Gordy Hulten may take pride in “not having to run things by an editor,“ but those are significant weaknesses that harm, if not destroy, the credibility of the site.“
Without digging up too much history, Mr. Knilands criticizes me and IP.com for being biased, for anonymous posters taking shots at people, and states that the credibility of the site and myself are harmed or destroyed. He noticably doesn’t mention his own history of anonymous & pseudonymous participation (including a fair share of anonymous pot shots) on the site, and nor does he mention his lengthy disagreements with me in regards to his methods of participation. Unfortunately, Mr. Knilands and I were never able to agree on the proper level of decorum for him to continue participating on IP.com.
Thanks again to Joel for the opportunity to be profiled. I do greatly enjoy SmilePolitely, and the comments here have given me some things to think about.
Robert Knilands
Just to clarify things for Gordy, who seems to have a different memory of the events of mid-2007:
Before the much-needed Illinois smoking ban was enacted, a number of IlliniPundit posters were trying to bait me into showing up at a local bar. Their posts were over-the-top and confrontational, so I chose to avoid a public disagreement.
When that approach failed, they turned to posting anonymous slams they found elsewhere on the Internet. Gordy refused to remove them, even though he had no way of proving them true or false.
This, in a nutshell, is why I believe his site has little or no credibility, and I believe anyone who isn’t shrouded in the same belief that “rich makes right” or who doesn’t subscribe to the same level of unintelligent divisiveness that recently was cast out of Washington would draw a similar conclusion.
I’m not sure what anonymous pot shots he’s referring to, but I find it amusing that he once claimed he couldn’t possibly police the anon posts, yet now he claims he can pinpoint them.
I guess this isn’t too unusual for someone who has no qualms about praising the News-Gazette, from which he poaches articles daily, even though not long ago he was claiming the paper was “spinning down the drain” or that it’s hopelessly behind the times because it refuses to go 100 percent online immediately, revenue loss be damned.
<span style=“line-height: 25px;“>In short, I think Gordy personifies the true sentiment of many on the “right side of the aisle” whose true goal seems to be beating down anyone who might threaten their status. He rides with whatever reality du jour fits his spin, facts be damned.</span>
Unlike the anonymous IlliniPundit posters, though—such as the one who recently claimed Esther Patt wasn’t a credible source of info about the Urbana city council, even though she once served on the council—I have the stones to post with my real name.
You keep fighting the good fight there, Gord. And remember—the one who dies with the most things wins. After all, doctors, hospitals, and their admins should be rich, rich, rich, and the patients should be poor, poor, poor. God bless the U.S. health care system!
Wanker
Well, anyone unfamiliar with the fireworks at IP.com can see even from this thread how it tends to work. There are some very bad feelings lingering.
Now, we can assume that the moderator of the site has nothing to do with those bad feelings. No doubt that is what Gordy believes.
And I don’t know the particulars of each disagreement. Maybe Gordy is right. Maybe it is all somebody else’s fault.
What I do know is that several (like five or six) liberals who used to comment and post at IP.com no longer do so. The ones I know believe that commenting at the site opens one up to barrage of often personal and negative criticisms that are tolerated or even led by Gordy.
Which is fine, of course. Gordy can feel free to create a site that tolerates “pot shots” against liberals but cries “Bloody Murder” if a liberal responds. What will happen is exactly what is happening right now: the number of liberal posters and commenters is diminishing rapidly.
But again, that is fine. Just do us all a favor and stop pretending that the site is a paragon of decorum and open opinions about local politics. It is no such thing.
Mike
oh man, often the liberals are taking the worst pot shots on that site. i’m more left leaning and consider it pretty fair. there’s a couple liberal posters that i don’t think will be shrinking away from the challenge there anytime soon.
Gordy Hulten
“What I do know is that several (like five or six) liberals who used to comment and post at IP.com no longer do so. The ones I know believe that commenting at the site opens one up to barrage of often personal and negative criticisms that are tolerated or even led by Gordy.“
Again, I must respectfully disagree.
In fact, I’d like to ask for any example of a barrage of personal criticism aimed at an IP.com commenter that was led by me.
Robert Knilands
Gordy:
Please spare us the outright lies.
Right now, I can do a Google search that proves you wrong immediately.
Like many on the right side of the aisle, you spend so much time dishing out socioeconomically driven hogwash that you lose all ability to separate reality from fiction.
“Just do us all a favor and stop pretending that the site is a paragon of decorum and open opinions about local politics. It is no such thing.“
What he said. It’s a cesspool of anonymous idiots, and you lead and protect them.
Again, I cite the example of some anonymous gnatbrain trying to claim that Esther Patt was not a credible source about things the Urbana City Council did. In the real world, that pinheadedry would be struck down immediately. Your site embraces it.
It’s an example of everything that is wrong with politically motivated blogs. You and it have long ago napalmed your collective credibility.
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I’ll agree that Gordy tolerated a lot of crap, but his patience wasn’t infinite—hence the banning of the nutcase übertea Wayne Johnson, exactly the kind of guy who gives libertarians the reputation for droolin’ batshittery they have. Gordy was also unwilling to pretend that gaybaiting was a…