One of former lawmaker Greg Patterson's schticks on his blog, Espresso Pundit, has been to bash daily newspapers. Now he wants to be one -- or an online version, anyway.
The popular local blogger is shilling for subscribers on his Web site, saying he'll produce a new cyber-product called the Espresso Pundit Professional Version if people want it. For an "expensive" subscription fee, he'll crank out one or two "analytical" articles a week, plus a few "short news items." Who says print's dead? Patterson even offers to publish an ink-and-paper version to fax or snail-mail his hypothetical subscribers. Sounds like a one-man newspaper, 21st-century style, doesn't it?
Biased newspaper, that is. Not that Patterson attempts to hide his affiliations. Here's what he had to say about the Republican opponents of Congressman Harry Mitchell:
My problem is that I'm friends with all of the candidates so I have trouble being impartial. I've known Anderson and Knaperek for many years and they are wonderful. Hatch-Miller and I have worked closely on a lot of issues while he has been at the ACC and we represented the same district in the House. Schweikert and I have been friends for nearly 20 years. We've played about a thousand games of Racquetball, hiked the Grand Canyon 3 or 4 times and I was best man at his wedding.
Perhaps Patterson is encouraged by the reported "success" of the Arizona Guardian, an online news outlet started by laid-off employees of the East Valley Tribune, despite his prediction that its business model is
Or a small newspaper.
