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| Image courtesy of Lisa Muxworthy. |
I won't bore the gentle reader with all the details. But I will say that it's a hard act to follow when DeDakis does his introduction by discussing how he interviewed Alfred Hitchcock as a young man in his early 20s.
The discussion was mainly regarding the relationship between the mainstream media and citizen journalists. But as inevitable, the discussion would dip into politics, but it all remained fairly civil.
Some of the more interesting questions were:
- Is mainstream media dead? (Not dead, but the hard copy version is probably on its way out.)
- Have you ever made a mistake in your reporting? (Hell yes, but I've always corrected them and learned from them.)
- How do I attract readers? (Get established sites to add you to their blogrolls, use social media to promote your site.)
One of the more interesting people in the audience was former Republican State Representative Gregg Underheim. I didn't know if I should have felt sorry for him or just laughed at him. He tried to claim that the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Editorial page never posted a conservative point of view. He must not have known that Christian Schneider, Mike Nichols, Aaron Rodriguez and Rick Esenberg are nothing more than paid shills for the corporate special interests. He also took great umbrage that a statement was made that there was a dearth of independent conservative voices in Wisconsin.
Interestingly, he took great efforts to avoid me but would go after Lisa constantly. I don't know if it was that he mistook her kindness for weakness or if he's just a misogynist or both.
As is the case for me in these type of events, the best part was not the panel discussion, which was lively and entertaining, but the stuff outside of the formal discussions.
I got to see some old friends, meet some cyberfriends in real life for the first time and make some new friends. One of the new friends that stands out the most is Lisa's sister. She has the same kindness and charm as Lisa, but with a cynical streak that rivals mine. But the poor kid doesn't know the difference between asparagus and green beans. (Yes, that's an inside joke.)
If one wants to see more images from the event, please visit the Lakefly Literary Conferences Facebook page.
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