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Life lessons
Tuesday, Apr 15, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller A constant complaint from bloggers is that they get no respect from the so-called mainstream media. Reporters say much the same about bloggers, who tend to pick apart their stories and columns and sometimes make them look like fools. I’ve watched this back and forth with much bemusement over the past few years. I started writing about the Statehouse for a company named Hannah Information Service in 1990. We were a dial-up bulletin-board system designed for lobbyists. Back then the state’s official Legislative Information System featured a 1200 baud modem and was available during business hours Monday through Friday. To use LIS in those days you needed a thick codebook and had to manually type in long “libsync” commands. Hannah downloaded all the LIS info via a nifty computer program and reposted it on an easy to use, menu-driven bulletin board system that could be accessed 24/7 via a super-fast (for then) 9600 baud modem. When I started writing for Hannah I was initially refused entry into the Legislative Correspondents Association because, they said, they didn’t have a category for what I was doing. I talked my way in, but I was apparently the subject of discussion at just about every annual meeting thereafter, particularly after I snagged some office space with my buddy Greg Tejeda at United Press International. So, I can relate to what many bloggers are going through. To this day, there are still a few on that Mezzanine who have issues with my very existence. It doesn’t much bother me, even when they run stuff I’ve written without attribution. Sometimes, they actually do credit me, as the SJ-R editorial did today. I’ve learned to ignore most of it. Hey, I’ve got a pretty good life, and no heartless megacorporation is trying to downsize my job. I’m a happy camper. As Elvis Costello once wrote: “I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.” Hannah was always undercapitalized, and I didn’t make much money at all, so I quit in 1993 and started the Capitol Fax. I decided to give it three to six months to see if I could make a decent living on my own. I hit my “month one” revenue target in a week, and my “month three” target in a month. It just kept going up from there. That was 15 years ago this month. I want to thank my subscribers for everything. You mean the world to me. And to the grumbling bloggers: Keep at it. Living well is the best possible revenge.
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- Yellow Dog Democrat - Tuesday, Apr 15, 08 @ 9:00 am:
Congratulations, Richard.
An entire generation of activists, pundits, gadflys, and journalists owes you a great debt.
And remember, theft without attribution is only the second greatest form of flattery.
You’ve set the standard for statehouse reporting that many are trying to imitate.
- Beowulf - Tuesday, Apr 15, 08 @ 9:01 am:
Interesting insights, Rich. Thanks should be going to you though for allowing all of us to have a forum for the free exchange of ideas and opinions. I have been told by certain elected officials that Capitol Fax Blog carries a far greater amount of political weight with our elected public officials than many give it public acknowledgement for. Many of our political events and issues have been altered and sometimes simply “left to die a natural death” due to the opinions expressed on this blog site. Is that true? Who knows but even if only “one” bad piece of legislation was thwarted by your blog site, then this forum and Rich Miller have served a worthy and noble purpose.
- Speaking At Will - Tuesday, Apr 15, 08 @ 9:05 am:
Its always good to hear a success story. Thanks for the Blog Rich!
- Reality Check - Tuesday, Apr 15, 08 @ 9:11 am:
they were so undercapitalized they spelled it ‘hannah.’
Thanks, I’ll be here all week.
- Team America, World Police - Tuesday, Apr 15, 08 @ 9:13 am:
Cap Fax Blog sets the standard. Many thanks for showing me how it’s done.
- OneMan - Tuesday, Apr 15, 08 @ 9:13 am:
Hannah information systems….
I think I used that when I was at NIU, we had access via the Illinois Student Association or something and could look up bills. Being the only computer science major in student government I was the ‘computer guy’.
It still blows my mind how things have changed.
- Kevin Fanning - Tuesday, Apr 15, 08 @ 9:15 am:
I’m glad that I can be a part of the 15th anniversary. Congrats on all the success so far Rich, and I can’t wait to see what’s in store for the next 15.
- Ghost - Tuesday, Apr 15, 08 @ 9:16 am:
Congratulations Rich!!
I rember when we accessed the internet with 300 baud modems, and most of the internet was just major companies servers used after hours for buletin boards to offset the cost of the equipment (GEnie etc). At the bargain rate of only 6hr for server time on their boards, plus back then you paid the phone company by the minute.
With the current Govt you should hit your year 25 revenue target this year
- Rich Miller - Tuesday, Apr 15, 08 @ 9:18 am:
Yeah, the ISA was an early Hannah client. I think, but I’m a bit hazy on this, that they were the ones who actually recommended me for a job with my old boss. I knew the people who ran it.
- Levois - Tuesday, Apr 15, 08 @ 9:21 am:
In order for you to have made it so soon, you had to have already identified a market. There were people who were already waiting for the service you started to provide.
- Yellow Dog Democrat - Tuesday, Apr 15, 08 @ 9:23 am:
When’s the IPO?
- Rich Miller - Tuesday, Apr 15, 08 @ 9:27 am:
Not in this market. lol
Peter Fitzgerald used to kid that he wanted to be the one to take me public. But that was a very long time ago.
- Jake from Elwood - Tuesday, Apr 15, 08 @ 9:43 am:
Congrats on the freshman fifteen!
Thanks for your efforts here.
Thanks also for putting the “angels want to wear my red shoes” song in my head probably for the rest of the day.
- grand old partisan - Tuesday, Apr 15, 08 @ 10:19 am:
Congrats, Rich!
I always loved reading the Fax as an intern, and when I graduated and ended up moving into the private sector I was glad to find the blog.
I understand “mainstream” reporters’ resentment of bloggers – after all, what professional would want a bunch of amateurs trying to beat them at their own game? My job doesn’t require any license or certification, but I did get a degree in a related field and would be mad if some guy off the street came in and thought he could do it better. But what’s always puzzled me is why they don’t take steps to enhance and codify their own profession and professionalism. Maybe it’s just vanity, but I’m always looking for ways to validate my credentials with certifications and other pieces of paper that prove I’m a “professional.” It seems that with each passing month, “mainstream” reports simply go the opposite direction: they relax their own reporting standards and start their own blogs.
- 47th Ward - Tuesday, Apr 15, 08 @ 10:39 am:
Congratulations Rich,
I’ve been reading your insight for 15 years, and you’ve never disappointed. I once stipped in the press room and asked where I could find you. One of the reporters there guffawed, said “this office is for real reporters.” I was taken aback by the scorn, since Capitol Fax is, hands down, the most reliable source for Springfield goings on and is consistently ahead of the news curve.
You’re doing better than simply living well. Keep it up, we’re all looking for 15 more years of outstanding service.
Cheers!
- Bill - Tuesday, Apr 15, 08 @ 10:39 am:
You mean the world to us too, dude!
- wordslinger - Tuesday, Apr 15, 08 @ 11:35 am:
Congratulations, Rich. Getting in on the ground-floor is a wonderful thing. I was involved in the dot.com retail craze a few years back and it was exhilarating — until the NASDAQ crash.
Link below to an interesting article on the mainstream press and bloggers.
http://www.newyorker.com/rep
orting/2008/03/31/080331fa_fact
_alterman_TESTONLY
- Amy - Tuesday, Apr 15, 08 @ 11:50 am:
congratulations Rich on your success. we are all the better for your work.
- Rich Miller - Tuesday, Apr 15, 08 @ 12:43 pm:
===But what’s always puzzled me is why they don’t take steps to enhance and codify their own profession and professionalism. ===
It’s called journalism school. And that credentialing process has destroyed many a mind over the years.
- archpundit - Tuesday, Apr 15, 08 @ 1:22 pm:
The only thing that ever bothers me is when I’m given attribution other than that, their problem is their problem.
One of my frustrations with the press on the issue of credentials is that the current norms are very different than traditional norms in journalism and many try to claim that the modern norms are the only way of being a member of the press.
This simply ignores the history of the First Amendment which was there to protect a largely partisan press not a whole lot different than bloggers today. Freedom of the press isn’t about big institutions and credentialing of elites to carry it out, it’s an individual right conferred upon ever citizen in the United States.
IOW, the entire view of journalism by those who try to define the press as formal organizations and credentially hold ahistorical views and damn clueless about the 1st Amendment.
- South Side Mike - Tuesday, Apr 15, 08 @ 1:40 pm:
Congratulations, Rich. Citizens like you are always needed to oversee democracy.
While we may get frustrated at insider corruption, fiscal irresponsibility, and other problems in and out of government, we are all very blessed to live in a country and state where such problems can be discussed in open forum.
Thanks for making a difference.
- 312 - Tuesday, Apr 15, 08 @ 2:08 pm:
You’ve always been ahead of your time — Hanna Report, Capitol Fax, then the blog — I can’t wait to see what you do next!
It’s your world, we’re just living in it…
- Rich Miller - Tuesday, Apr 15, 08 @ 2:10 pm:
===I can’t wait to see what you do next!===
Collapse. lol
- JonShibleyFan - Tuesday, Apr 15, 08 @ 2:36 pm:
BRAVO!
I remember the “old” days when it was fax only - and you just couldn’t wait to get your hands on it.
I still can’t wait every day to get it on screen.
Great stuff. Congrats.
- so-called "Austin Mayor" - Tuesday, Apr 15, 08 @ 5:28 pm:
“Huzzah!” for the CapFax and Rich Miller!
– SCAM
so-called “Austin Mayor”
http://austinmayor.blogspot.com
- Declan Mcmanus - Tuesday, Apr 15, 08 @ 8:34 pm:
You picked the wrong Costello song: based on today’s beating in court, the tune you want is: “Clown Time is Over”.
- Bookworm - Tuesday, Apr 15, 08 @ 10:19 pm:
On days like today, news junkies like me don’t know what we’d do without your blog! Keep up the good work!