School Board to Use Local Blog to Share Information

This morning's Norwich Bulletin contains an article about a local school board submitting information to a local blog to share information with the community. I am in a nearby town and I share some of the frustrations about trying to understand the issues and decisions of local elected officials when living in a rural area with sparse local media coverage. Part of my involvement in local politics in an earlier period in my life was based on my perception that in small towns, with limited media coverage it is a hard to find out what is happening in your government, without the government making extraordinary efforts to "get the word out".

Decision making becomes a closed loop between people who only talk to themselves. Does the Internet and Blogosphere democratize the process by providing current, up to date information or just place the spotlight on those with an ax to grind? The town in question is not without political and budget controversy in recent years (as it is with most towns in our area) so parts of the blog have a clear political edge. Yet some of it seems to be pure information, and it is easy to navigate back and forth to pick up on the flavor of local politics, as I am doing this Sunday morning from the comfort of my easy chair.

I remember two signature conversations in my political career. One where a member of the opposition party told me that he was voting for me because he noted that the leaders of the town council and the school board were all close friends and he did not want decisions about his town "being made by a bunch of guys sitting around a Friday night poker table, drinking beer". A second conversation concerned the nature of business on the Planning and Zoning Commission where it was noted that in the old days "most of the (land use) decisions were made on the steps of church after services on Sunday". Do blogs contribute to an open flow of information or do they provide a easy platform for extreme views that fracture consensus and hinder decision making?