Blogging Job at the State Capitol
The House Majority at the Hawaii State Legislature has put out the call, on its blog no less, for a full-time blogger. Well, an “assistant communications director” with others duties as assigned, no doubt, but still… House Communications Director Georgette Deemer is looking for someone who loves to write.
“Not just the usual press releases, media advisories, opinion pieces, etc. but also as a voice of and contributor to this blog,” Deemer says. “An artistic eye for capturing the sights and personalities of the legislature through digital photography will be appreciated.”
Not only is it a full-time position, but it’s year-round as well, rather than the few months the Legislature is in session. Though the salary is “about $40,000,” it comes with the state’s excellent benefits and health insurance plan. You could do a lot worse for a communications job, and if you love the web and blogging, the position could be worth fighting for.
Interested? Send Deemer a cover letter and resume by November 16. She hopes to have someone in place by the holidays, to give the freshly minted House blogger a few weeks in the Capitol before the opening gavel falls.
What kind of fool could possibly be interested in that? haha
Doug, Call me a Fool. I’m interested cause I’m PUA and Unemployed. I’m also a Blogger! :)
Auntie Pupule
Apply then, fool! :)
There seems to be a fairly deliberate attempt to blur the distinction between the Hawaii state legislature and the house majority (Democrats), so one has to be careful that this is just one of the innumerable Democratic propaganda jobs which requires lying to the people of Hawaii about just about anything and everything — which even well-known hacks like Doug can easily see through.
The unfortunate culture of public (political) life in Hawaii is that lying, deception and manipulation is the common experience of all communications — so most people grow up not knowing what authentic communications are like, having seen only highly-contrived (mediated) examples through the media and other institutions of “learning” (indoctrination).
It’s done in every culture and society (enculturation) but has reached a fairly advanced stage of control in authoritarian (totalitarian) cultures more than others. Authoritarian cultures are those highly hierarchic and controlled social structures in which the people believe whatever they are told — by those in authority, who are obviously the politicians, but less obviously, the complicit media, teachers, lobbyists, and public information officers (propagandists).
This almost exclusive control of the information by the powers that be (or could) was mollified by the rise of the blogs, which they now hope to co-opt, and thus regain control of the information flow. The key is that the blogs cannot be controlled — but a person blogging for a special interest group can be, unless they are well-established ground rules preventing the unscrupulous abuses and manipulation of this new “information” methodology.
It would be nice to think that the Democrats are creating this position for nonpartisan purposes — but if that were the case, they’d create the proper nonpartisan office for it — and not try to confuse these intents and purposes, by how they’re going about it.
For once, I almost agree with Mike Hu. I think the Hawaii House Blog is mis-named, and I always refer to it as the House MAJORITY blog.
Anybody who thinks the blogger hired to fill this position will have substantial editorial freedom needs to think again.
Thanks for mentioning the position opening… I just wanted to clarify that the assistant communications position includes the blogging, but is much more than that. It’s also writing and/or editing news releases, advisories, op-eds, helping with media relations, setting up news conferences, and other communications activities. That’s why I’m looking for someone with very strong writing skills. Also, I don’t believe we are misleading on the fact that we represent the majority. On our blog, the title description is “News and commentary from the Majority of the House of Representatives”. I understand the Minority is also planning a blog, and I look forward to seeing that up and running. Finally, Doug’s right in that you will not have full editorial freedom. The House blog is not a personal blog. It’s a blog representing the House leadership and the Majority, and that’s 43 members at this time. I’d like it to be an issues blog, not a pr blog. It’s open to comments; we know that we’re going to get critical and/or negative comments, and as long as the comment is not a personal attack or derogatory, we publish it. That said, the state capitol is a pretty interesting place to work, esp. during session, and I encourage qualified applicants to throw their resume in the ring.