From Jargon to Message: Blogging the Economic Battles
Some of the big economic policy fights that loom on the horizon—including domestic recovery, global trade, banking and health care—turn on issues that can be tough to blog about without narrowing interest to a small band of hardy policy wonks. How can we crystallize the debate and explain what's at stake without getting hung up on paralyzing jargon? And how can we defuse the negative associations with words like "deficits," "protectionism," "nationalization" and "government-run health care" that currently help special interests and obstructionists misframe the debate? This panel also offers an opportunity for attendees to clear up confusion about complicated policy details, giving us all the ability to make strong policy arguments.
"Digby" of Santa Monica, California, is a writer and founder of the liberal political blog Hullabaloo (www.digbysblog.blogspot.com).
At the Campaign for America’s Future, Monica coordinates and develops health insurance policy research to promote public and Congressional understanding that the private insurance industry cannot lead health care reform and that a public insurance plan option is vital to comprehensive, sustainable reform. Monica has nearly two decades of experience in consumer health education. Previously, she was the Deputy Director of the Medicare Rights Center, a not-for-profit organization devoted to education and advocacy for older Americans and people with disabilities, and Executive Editor of Health Pages, an online health information service empowering health care consumers to make informed choices.
Bill Scher is the Online Campaign Manager at Campaign for America's Future and the Executive Editor of LiberalOasis.com. He is the author of "Wait! Don't Move To Canada!: A Stay-and-Fight Strategy to Win Back America", a regular contributor to Bloggingheads.tv and The Huffington Post, and host of the LiberalOasis Radio Show weekly podcast.
Dave Johnson is Founder and principal author at Seeing the Forest, and a blogger at Speak Out California.
Dave is a Fellow at Campaign for America's Future, a Senior Fellow with the Institute for the Renewal of the California Dream and a Fellow at the Commonweal Institute.
