New project: The Libertarian Press Club

Over at Rational Review, we're launching a new project to help build more effective libertarian media: The Libertarian Press Club. If you're a "freedom movement" journalist, blogger, podcaster or other content producer, I hope you'll have a look. No dues or payments, but you do have to request an invitation (there's a link for doing so on the LPC page).

Here's the logic behind the LPC:

Most libertarian media is Internet-based, and much of it is national in scope. The ability of (for example) a California-based blogger to do "shoe-leather reporting" on (for instance) a developing story in Florida is probably limited. And while developing one's own sources is always a good idea, the fact is that a fast-breaking story, or even a slow-breaking one that's not geographically convenient, makes it more difficult to get the information you need straight from the horses' mouths.

The LPC will attempt to bridge the gap between the desire to cover stories and the ability to do so by bringing Group A (the content producers who want to tell their readers, listeners, etc. what's going on) together with Group B (the newsmakers who are only newsmakers to the extent that they can get the word out to the content producers).

Our first "product" will be the "virtual press conference" -- a teleconference at which libertarian content producers get the opportunity to throw questions at libertarian "public figures." That's nothing that hasn't been done ad hoc in the freedom movement for several years now, of course, but we hope to provide "one-stop shopping" for both the content producers and the public figures. If we do it right, a lot more of each group will get face time (so to speak) with each other.

We expect to hold our first "virtual press conference" in mid-November, and to get on a semi-monthly schedule -- with additional events for "breaking stories" -- from there on out.

As time goes on, we may upgrade from teleconference to video conference, etc., and perhaps even run some "meatspace" events. The goal, however, will remain the same -- to make it easier for libertarian content producers to get the straight poop to their audiences.