Daniel W. Drezner — the magazine?

Hey, if ESPN can do it, why not the hardworking staff at danieldrezner.com? If you’re wondering what the heck I’m talking about, click over to James “Outside the Beltway” Joyner for some background about the FEC’s slow-motion investigation of how to regulate the blogosphere. Anticipating the inevitable FEC screw-up, some bloggers, like Bill Hobbs, have ...

By , a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast.

Hey, if ESPN can do it, why not the hardworking staff at danieldrezner.com? If you're wondering what the heck I'm talking about, click over to James "Outside the Beltway" Joyner for some background about the FEC's slow-motion investigation of how to regulate the blogosphere. Anticipating the inevitable FEC screw-up, some bloggers, like Bill Hobbs, have decided to simultaneously a) retiring from blogging, and b) declare themselves to be "online daily interactive magazine(s) of news and commentary." Over at Captain's Quarters, Ed Morrissey is valiantly resisting this trend, stating:

Hey, if ESPN can do it, why not the hardworking staff at danieldrezner.com? If you’re wondering what the heck I’m talking about, click over to James “Outside the Beltway” Joyner for some background about the FEC’s slow-motion investigation of how to regulate the blogosphere. Anticipating the inevitable FEC screw-up, some bloggers, like Bill Hobbs, have decided to simultaneously a) retiring from blogging, and b) declare themselves to be “online daily interactive magazine(s) of news and commentary.” Over at Captain’s Quarters, Ed Morrissey is valiantly resisting this trend, stating:

I will not allow the FEC to chase me from my rights as an independent voice in politics to write what I please and to post what I want based on a silly bit of nomenclature. I understand what… members of the, er, “online magazine community” mean to say with these statements, but I won’t surrender to the bureaucrats an inch when it comes to my right to speak my mind. I don’t plan on playing silly name games with those who plan on regulating speech for our own good. All that does is play into their strategy of twisting words and meanings until nothing means what it says any more. I won’t do it. I won’t play along. I won’t even do it as a protest, as these bloggers obviously mean it to be.

Ed makes an excellent point. However, Duncan “Atrios” Black makes a persuasive argument about joining the online magazine community:

Since I ceased being a blogger an hour or so ago and became the publisher/editor/chief political correspondent/cat photographer/scifi critic/media critic/missing persons expert/blogger ethics expert/janitor for an exciting new online magazine, my life has truly been transformed. I discovered, in my coupon clipping box, a deed for a 6000 sq. ft. Nantucket cabin. I’ve been to 17 parties hosted by the charming and delightful Sally Quinn. I’ve played Bridge with Nedra Pickler, and twister with Candy Crowley and Jeff Greenfield. I’ve convened 38 panels on blogger ethics, something I never managed to do when I was actually a blogger. My debut appearance on Meet the Press will happen this Sunday.

Make it twister with Salma Hayek, and this would be the easiest call in blog history. Decisions, decisions…. I will humbly leave it to my readers to decide for me. And, no, there would be no swimsuit issue.

Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast. Twitter: @dandrezner

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