Just a note to let folks know that today is the final day for the News Blog. We hope you'll continue to visit our politics section, where you'll find extensive coverage of Election 2008.
1:42 PM ET | 05- 2-2008 | permalink
"We would like to apologize for the way in which politicians are represented in this programme. It was never our intention to imply that politicians are weak-kneed political time-servers who are concerned more with their personal vendettas and private power struggles that the problems of government nor to suggest at any point that they sacrifice their credibility by denying free debate on vital matters in the mistaken impression that party unity comes before the wellbeing of the people they supposedly represent. nor to imply at any stage that they are squabbling little toadies without an ounce of concern for the problems of today. Nor indeed do we intend that viewers should consider them as crabby ulcerous little self seeking vermin with furry legs and an excessive addiction to alcohol and certain explicit sexual practices which some people might find offensive
We are sorry if this impression came across"
-Monty Python's Flying Circus
That's too bad - it was a really interesting place to look for near-real-time updates. Thanks for your work, Tom!
This is the way the world ends.
Not with a bang, but a whimper.
Darn! And I was just getting to like you, Tom.
Good luck with your endeavors in the future Tom.
My evil plans have come to fruition.
Muuuhahahahahahahahaha...COUGH.
Good luck Tom, you did a very good job.
This has been a great site to share political views.
Ah hell that sucks! There's no one at NPR who can blog? And I was just beginning to appreciate the insipidities of my favorite political arm-chair pundit commenter of this blog, deek. Where am I to turn to see such ignorance? Fox? Heavens!!
What a shame, I really enjoyed reading here. It's the most intelligent and reasonable discussion of issues I've found anywhere on the net. Best of luck, you will be sorely missed.
Wait, does this mean the campaign is over?
Jenn - Try this out:
Why?
John Edwards suspended his campaign too. Does nothing good last?
Wouldn't you know it--just when I was looking forward to logging on every day. What a disappointment.
Susan Jacoby would be pleased with the intelligent repartee on this blog.
Sean, I might be seen tormenting the denizens of the yahoo answers politics section. I've been kicked off yahoo more times than I can count; so I guess that means more than 21 times.
My advice to the "progressives." The anger will ruin you. Let it go.
fwiw, for those of you who subscribe to nprnewsblog on Twitter, it won't be shutting down. It will, however, get a new name tbd, but will still cover the election in full political geek fashion. If you already subscribe to it on Twitter, don't worry about the name changed; you'll just see new tweets coming your way under the new name, and we'll do our best to make it painfully obvious.
good luck Tom, I'm going to miss your tweats
So do I need to change something on twitter or does it automatically change to the new tweet?
This is truly sad. I loved reading the News blog.
I was disappointed when NPR's last blog closed, and here we go again.
There's a big difference between a news feed and moderated news commentary. I hope NPR recognizes the difference and moves quickly to fill this space. I also hope to see a vehicle with a bit more continuity...kind of like your radio shows.
In any case, thanks for the hard work! It's appreciated.
Thanks for being there. I've enjoyed the updates and blogged a few comments myself, but I can understand wanting to end it. This campaign about non-issues is dragging us all down.
So, is there any chance of a SlashDot.org style forum taking the place of this blog?
Tom,
Thanks for your forum. This site allowed for many different personalities and political views and yes, there were times when it appeared things were intense, however, I think overall, we all appreciated the opportunity to "vent"...this election has given us a renewed energy to engage in the future of America.
Good luck in your next endeavor.
Well, at least there's no tearful press conference; buy why no explanation?
I agree with Sean; I too will miss deek's comments. I guess i'll have to go to Redstate or some such nonsensical website, or as you suggested WTF News.
XOXO
The blog'll be missed. It's one of the few places I've found that allows all to weigh in. I've learned a lot from all entries, even Deek's! Good luck to all, but especially Barack.
NPR is making a mistake ending this blog. It is wonderful, and I love the easy access to information that would not likely be made into a "real" news story.
Good luck, but please teach someone else your secrets!
Why?
nprnewsblog on twitter is now called nprpolitics. Michael Olson and I will continue to use it for NPR political coverage and good conversation with the twitterverse. If you were a subscriber to nprnewsblog on Twitter, you won't have to do anything; it'll just show up with the new name. If you're not a subscriber, by all means please join us - just be prepared for a lot of traffic next Tuesday. :-)
Tom
sorry to hear this but anywho, Gracias Amigo for your work. I wish it could have lasted at least until Nov.
Au revoir
That's terrible!!! Don't leave!
Too bad!! I really have enjoyed reading your daily blog on politics. Hope to see your work elsewhere in the future.
Did anyone tell Fred C. Call?
I'm going to have to actually work on the house. Thanks not just to Tom, but to all the other bloggers for the conversation; it's been enlightening on so many levels.
ah crap!!
I agree with a lot of the other posts - I'll miss the discussions and the opinions. Even the ones I don't agree with. That we all get to have our own opinion and even feel free to shoot our mouths off about it is what I love most about this awesome country we live in. And it'll be even better after 1/20/09. Go Dems!
This has been a great forum. I always thought when an organization gets something that works it continues and even makes it better. It is rather a surprise you are doing the opposite. Anyway, I guess it may be for other good reasons. I would miss this site. It has been the only site I aired my opinions on. Thanks Tom. all the best. It has been great.
Why is this blog shutting down? One of my favorite RSS feeds. Very disappointed.
Thank you Tom.
Have a nice life.
Tom-
Thanks! I will miss you and all the regulars...., even deek.
-Gary
Sean: I don't recommend it. deek is better than Fox - there are no ads and no schmaltzy baby-fell-down-a-well stories. I'll miss the glimpses down the republican rabbit-hole which he provided, but there's always LGF or freep when I want to set my head a-spinnin'.
Folks, I would say it's been fun but it hasn't. No one here actually talks to anyone else. Here's a hint, NPR: set up threaded comments display next time you try this, and maybe the blog can actually be an intelligible conversation instead of a meaningless gabble. Cheers!
bummer!
What a shame! With so few around these days it is a terrible thing to lose a source of real news.
I agree with Kasreyn. Besides having threaded comments, I would like to see better moderated discussions from the start. I appreciated the stories, but I started skipping the comments because I found that as recently as a few months ago, there was far too much spam and unrelated discussion in the comments section without a way to flag them. Maybe things got better over time, but that should have been in place from the start.
I feel like someone shut down the local watering hole. The other coverage on NPR.org is so sterile by comparison.
Why? What happened?
This blog has actually brought me back into the NPR fold a bit after getting frustrated with it.
Guess I'll go back to other sources I trust.
I'll definitely miss it. Thanks Tom.
Nanananananana...
See you around cyberspace.
Cheers
This is a delayed good-bye to the News Blog that Tom Regan has been writing valiantly. I apologize that I didn't post more promptly. I should have.
I'm the new editorial director of digital media at NPR.org so I'll explain why the blog went away. Simply put, the News Blog suffered because our site doesn't quite have the resources and social media tools needed to truly develop a big, flourishing community around a blog right now. While the the News Blog did have a solid core of readers and commenters (and some of you have chimed in on its ending), it was hampered by our commenting system and even by a lack of in-house contributors. We will get those tools and utilities in a big way over the summer so that all our future blogs will be more robust, open and interactive. Our social media guru, Andy Carvin, and others are working hard on that and will be seeking input throughout from the NPR online community. Until then, we need Tom's help elsewhere on the site.
Our online political coverage will be growing throughout the election year -- count on it. Most of it will on our Election 2008 page. By the fall, we're sure our blogs will be better. Much more important, it will be easier to talk back to the whole site, everywhere, all of us. It's a huge job for a pretty small team of webbies here at NPR but that is what we are focused on. And as I said, you'll hear much more about the process as we go along and have ample opportunity to contribute ideas.
I'm sorry that this missive didn't come earlier. Thanks for your patience and stay tuned on all fronts.
I will miss truly miss this blog, as well as the insight of the more intelligent posters around here like deek and Fred Camorra Call. They were shining beacons that not ALL of America is losing its mind this year.
Thanks again.
Roger M. Block
I missed this item that the npr blog by Tom Regan was shutting down. Just found it today when I did an npr search. I look forward to npr having another blog soon. Other "News" sites have them but boy they can get ugly. I trust NPR and PBS for the news without opinion added by the newscaster(messenger). Then I can decide how I feel and think. Thank you Tom Regan and NPR.
I'm late to this blog, but I think it's important that NPR provide a place for public comment to their coverage. Public comment, for or against, though it may be hard to hear should be at the core of everything NPR publishes or produces.
www.futureosophy.com
Whoah... I'd missed this news as well. Following via tweets, I didn't pick up on the blog's closure. I suppose that says something about my clickthrough pattern, but you know, the blog entries were always just part of the mix and I hadn't stopped to consider the ratio of late. Much respect, Tom.
Man! I take out the trash and when I return you're gone!!!
Tom I hope you're still reading these comments. Frankly you were the best thing about NPR...always timely and as expressed by all, you will be missed...
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