Americablog Explained

Americablog
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Type:Blog
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Author:John Aravosis
Editor:John Aravosis
Current Status:defunct

Americablog (stylized as blog) was an American liberal blog founded by John Aravosis in April 2004, with several co-bloggers. The blog helped expose Jeff Gannon in 2005, and in 2006 helped make cell phone privacy an issue by obtaining General Wesley Clark's call records. The blog focused on U.S. politics.

Members

History

Americablog first received widespread media attention after it revealed that Jeff Gannon, a member of the White House press corps with a reputation for asking "softball" questions at opportune moments for Press Secretary Scott McClellan, was actually James Guckert and had advertised his services as an escort.[4] [5] [6] [7]

In 2006, Aravosis learned that a number of commercial websites were selling people's private cell phone records, and that the practice was legal. In order to publicize what he considered a problem, Aravosis purchased the call records of former presidential candidate and Supreme Allied Commander of NATO General Wesley Clark for $89.95, and then published the records (with the numbers blacked out) on Americablog, bringing the issue widespread attention.[8] [9] [10] In September 2006, California passed a state law banning the practice of pretexting, or pretending to be someone else, used by the websites, with the bill's sponsor specifically citing the Americablog coverage.[11] Clark became an advocate of cell record privacy bills in Congress.[12] Within months, Congress passed a law restricting these records.[13]

In 2011, Aravosis received a tip that British oil giant BP (British Petroleum) was posting falsified photos to its website during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. He analyzed the photos, then published an article on Americablog proving that the images were doctored electronically.[14] The story received widespread coverage in the media.[15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20]

Americablog ceased posting new content in February of 2022.

Rankings

A study of blogs and the 2004 U.S. presidential election ranked Americablog as the 18th most popular liberal blog for October–November 2004.[21] In 2005, less than one year after its launch, Americablog was ranked fifth in page views among all political blogs in an analysis done by MyDD.[22] In 2008, PC Magazine ranked Americablog as one of the "20 best political Web sites." At the time, PC Magazine wrote: "You'll want to keep Americablog on your radar."[23] In 2009, Americablog was ranked as one of the top ten political blogs by the Personal Democracy Forum,[24] and as the 23rd most popular political blog by Wikio. In 2010, Technorati ranked Americablog in the top 100 political blogs and top 100 US politics blogs, and in 2013 Pingdom cited Americablog as one of the top 100 blogs.[25] The New York Times includes Americablog among 17 "politics & government" blog that it recommends.[26] And Rolling Stone once wrote of Americablog: "We trust you are all reading Americablog ... you'll be better Amurricans for it."

External links

Notes and References

  1. https://www.linkedin.com/in/aravosis John Aravosis bio on LinkedIn
  2. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0210/12/cst.05.html CNN.com
  3. Web site: Handgun Control . 2007-02-13 . https://web.archive.org/web/20061122002714/http://www.commondreams.org/news2000/0504-03.htm . 2006-11-22 . dead .
  4. News: Online Nude Photos Are Latest Chapter In Jeff Gannon Saga . Howard Kurtz . Howard Kurtz . . February 16, 2005. 2007-02-12 . The latest developments were first reported by John Aravosis, a liberal political consultant and gay activist who has a Web site called americablog.org. 'What struck me initially was the hypocrisy angle,' Aravosis said. He said he was offended by what he called Gannon's 'antigay' writing..
  5. News: Guckert Watch. https://web.archive.org/web/20180918072048/https://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A28866-2005Feb16/?language=printer. dead. September 18, 2018. Dan Froomkin. Dan Froomkin. The Washington Post. February 16, 2005. 2007-02-12 . Joe Strupp wrote in Editor & Publisher ... 'In addition, evidence emerged on the site Americablog yesterday suggesting that Guckert not only set up sex sites but also offered his services as a male prostitute. When asked by E&P today about such accusations, Gannon declined to confirm or deny. "I am not going to talk about that," he said.'.
  6. News: 'Jeff Gannon's' secret life . . February 15, 2005 . September 28, 2009 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110607032705/http://dir.salon.com/news/feature/2005/02/15/guckert/print.html . 2011-06-07 . dead .
  7. News: See no Gannon, hear no Gannon, speak no Gannon . . February 25, 2005 . September 28, 2009 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110607032715/http://dir.salon.com/story/news/feature/2005/02/25/gannon_coverage/print.html . 2011-06-07 . dead . Americablog 'has been instrumental in breaking news on "Gannongate."'.
  8. News: Blogger Buys Presidential Candidate's Call List . Frank Main . . January 13, 2006 . 2007-02-12 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20061121044531/http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0113-08.htm . November 21, 2006. Republished on the Common Dreams NewsCenter.
  9. News: Who's buying cell phone records online? Cops . https://archive.today/20141110014325/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/12534959/ns/technology_and_science-security/t/whos-buying-cell-phone-records-online-cops/%23.VGAWnfTF-WE . dead . November 10, 2014 . Bob Sullivan . . June 20, 2006.
  10. News: The Spy in Your Pocket . Associated Press . . February 9, 2006.
  11. News: Governor Signs Simitian Bill to Outlaw 'Pretexting,' Prohibit Purchase and Sale of Phone Records . . September 29, 2006.
  12. The Spy in Your Pocket . https://web.archive.org/web/20060512083813/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1174705,00.html . dead . May 12, 2006 . Kristina Dell . . March 19, 2006 . 2007-02-12.
  13. The Bush Era Draws to a Close . Jennifer Granick . . December 20, 2006.
  14. News: BP photoshops fake photo of oil spill crisis command center to make it look busy . John Aravosis . Americablog . July 19, 2010.
  15. News: BP acknowledges another altered photo, posts originals . Jason Hanna . . July 22, 2010.
  16. News: Altered BP photo comes into question . Steven Mufson . . July 20, 2010.
  17. News: BP digitally alters press photo, confesses it's fake . https://web.archive.org/web/20141110040513/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/38333456/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/t/bp-digitally-alters-press-photo-confesses-its-fake/#.VF_5wPTF-WE . dead . November 10, 2014 . Wilson Rothman . . July 20, 2010.
  18. News: BP and the Gulf Oil Spill: Misadventures in Photoshop . Kirsten Korosec . . July 30, 2010.
  19. News: Erasing the mistakes: BP's lessons in Photoshop . Anjli Raval . . July 21, 2010.
  20. News: Quand BP truque les photos de sa communication de crise . . July 21, 2010.
  21. https://web.archive.org/web/20050310100048/http://www.blogpulse.com/papers/2005/AdamicGlanceBlogWWW.pdf Adamic, Lada and Glance, Natalie, The Political Blogosphere and the 2004 U.S. Election: Divided They Blog
  22. News: Partisan, Political Blogosphere Traffic Rankings s . . Feb 27, 2005 . Sep 28, 2009 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20080907162851/http://www.mydd.com/story/2005/2/27/16243/2951 . 2008-09-07 .
  23. https://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2329081,00.asp The 20 Best Political Web Sites | PCMag.com
  24. http://personaldemocracy.com/blogs/top Top 50 blogs | Personal Democracy Forum
  25. Web site: WordPress increases its domination of the top 100 blogs . . May 7, 2013.
  26. News: Meislin, Rich . Blogs 101 . The New York Times.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Americablog".

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