Porkbusters

Tennessee Democrat Bob Clement served in Congress from 1988 to 2003. Historians will decide what legacy he achieved during that time, but here’s a new video to help them.

It is the first episode in “Porkbusters On Patrol,” the kind of project made for pork-hating Republicans John McCain and Sarah Palin. It is a networked journalism series announced by Eyeblast.tv and the bipartisan Porkbusters coalition this summer. Subscribe to our Porkbusters channel for future episodes.

We’re still looking for Porkbusters across the country to produce video reports. Search the 2008 “Pig Book” of Citizens Against Government Waste for ideas from your area, and send your e-mail pitches to me: dglover-at-eyeblast-dot-tv.

If you want to join our army of citizen reporters but don’t have a camera, you can get one free in exchange for your work. Just request a Flip video camera when you e-mail your story ideas.
 

Use phrases like "networked journalism" or "citizen journalism" in the presence of conservatives and you're likely to see a lot of blank stares. The few conservatives who are familiar with the terms are just as likely to scoff or shake their heads in disgust.

That's too bad because networked journalism presents a great opportunity for the right to counteract liberal media bias. In the past, readers and sources could only sit on the sidelines and gripe when the "professionals" shirked great stories or produced unbalanced pieces. Now we can do the work they won't -- or can't.

We don't need the liberal media because we have the Internet. If you can't beat 'em, then I say bypass 'em.

As the executive producer of Eyeblast.tv, a video-sharing site designed to promote conservative values and principles, this is an issue I've discussed in theory several times in recent months. Now it's time to test the theory in practice.

Today, Eyeblast joined forces with the Porkbusters coalition to launch a networked journalism project dubbed "Porkbusters On Patrol." The gist of it is to recruit stringers to produce on-site video reports about the most egregious pork-barrel projects funded by the federal government.

This is a chance for The Next Right community to produce the kind of quality journalism we long to see in the mainstream media -- and to have fun doing it.

If you don't have a digital videocamera to shoot footage for a story in your area, you can apply to get one for free and keep it as payment for your contribution to this project. People who already have cameras will be paid for assigned stories. Eyeblast also will cover the mileage costs of citizen video reporters on assignment.

If I've piqued your interest, click on over to the new blog at Eyeblast for the details, and spread the word to anyone who might be interested. And share your thoughts on the project in the comments here and at Eyeblast.