lee krohn
what I’m doin’ for the state right now is
what the wall street journal editorial page is.
g e o f f r ey n o r m an, V e r m o n t t i g e r
Norman explains. “What I’d love to do is be able to add the Wall Street Journal’s news-gathering operation to that. But that hasn’t happened, and Geoffrey Norman may not ever happen.” It’s definitely a possibility, though. Norman says he’s getting serious about developing a business plan. “I kind of think right now the climate is good for us to find some contributors and some investors and to use that to try to expand into revenue-producing areas,” he says. “Maybe even some print. It hasn’t been entirely thought out, but we have talks about it all the time.”
Green Mountain Daily
I
greenmountaindaily.com
SEVENDAYSvt.com 01.27.10-02.03.10 SEVEN DAYS FEATURE 27
jeb wallace-brodeur
f Vermont Tiger likens itself to the Wall Street Journal editorial page, Green Mountain Daily is “the kidney of the Democratic Party.” Founder John Odum describes his website as a kind of liberal communal water cooler. GMD is a group effort modeled on the national political blog Daily Kos. The content consists of articles by “front pagers” — the authors whose work appears in the main column of the site. Odum is one of these contributors, some of whom identify themselves; others use pseudonyms. Anyone can write a “diary” that will appear in the right-hand column. And any of the 15 people who have administrative privileges at GMD can elevate a diary to the main column of the site. Recent GMD headlines include “Rutland Herald/Times Argus still spinning the budget issue for the Governor” and “Progressives in the House wising up?” There’s also a post offering live coverage of Democrat Doug Racine’s gubernatorial campaign kickoff. Odum founded the site in February 2006 as a vehicle for political activism. The 41-year-old Montpelier resident has worked as an organizer for progressive causes for most of his professional life; he’s currently the associate director for membership and development at the Vermont Natural Resources Council. “My goals were ‘Let’s have an effect on the policy, and let’s have an effect on the electoral process,’” he recalls. “‘Let’s get more people involved. Let’s be that kind of engine.’ I think on those terms, it’s been successful.” Odum reports that GMD gets roughly 800 unique visitors a day, or about 5500 readers each week. Several of the Democratic candidates for governor have posted appeals to the site, hoping to win support from the GMD readership. In fact, Odum has launched a fundraising drive with a goal of raising $100,000 for the eventual nominee. The Vermont political media are clearly reading GMD, too; reporters often pick up tips that appear on the site. While Odum adamantly denies he’s a journalist, GMD does occasionally break news. Last October, for example, Odum was contacted by a John Odum source at Fletcher Allen Health Care concerned about directives from
hospital administrators regarding H1N1 precautions. Odum subsequently went live with a post titled “Fletcher Allen breaking pandemic prevention protocols.” At the beginning of the post, Odum writes, “With months to prepare, you would think that FAHC would be ready for its H1N1 patients. Let’s just say they are off to a really bad start.” But Odum didn’t contact anyone at Fletcher Allen before publishing his allegations. Not surprisingly, its public relations department responded, and Odum had to update his post four times, qualifying his original report. Didn’t he have an obligation to let FAHC respond in the first place, especially given the seriousness of the charge? “This is where you get into the difference between being a reporter and watercooler conversation,” says Odum. “It didn’t feel like an investigative reporting moment. It felt like a gadfly moment. It felt like ‘Time to be an irritant.’ ... That’s where it becomes almost more like advocacy work, I suppose.” Odum says he doesn’t have any concrete plans to expand GMD’s mission to include more original reporting. And he’s not pushing to make the site more profitable. GMD sells ads through a blogging ad network, but Odum says it makes barely enough money each year to pay for a delivery of fuel oil to his house. He keeps the cash; none of the other contributors are paid. A progressive political action committee called BlogPAC covers the blog’s web-hosting fees. Will GMD ever become more than just a place for like-minded activists to share the latest buzz? “One day I like the idea of it getting bigger and bigger and bigger,” says Odum, “and another day I feel more my blog roots, like, ‘Who cares if it gets bigger?’ ... It’s certainly got enough of a branding identification now that if I wanted to, I might be able to take the plunge and professionalize it. But it’s the kind of thing I would never take the plunge on, given that I have a family. Maybe if I was still 20 years old, and I could live in a box on cat food for a month, I wouldn’t sweat it.” m