Day 1227: Karen Gadbois Named Gambit Weekly’s New Orleanian Of The Year

Do we ever need this good news! Besos, Karen!

… Karen Gadbois, armed with little more than a laptop and a digital camera, singlehandedly blew the whistle on the New Orleans Affordable Housing scandal, which she documented on her blog, www.squanderedheritage.com. The result? An FBI investigation, admiring writeups of her efforts in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, and new respect for the power of the citizen blogger.

The Gambit – with its Eightball-esque cover illustration of the honorees – got it right in the full story that Karen is hope.  And hard work, dedication and, boy, you don’t want to stand in this woman’s way when she’s going.

This is what I want “citizen bloggers” and “real journalists” to understand:

This medium here, these characters in 1s and 0s on this virtual page, isn’t all about blogging, journalism and the “war” being waged over lost consumers in between. It doesn’t all involve vanity, therapy and electronic coffee klatches, either. Sometimes, it’s simply about getting the news out that has to come out.  Not because you and I have the right to know but because people’s homes, lives and futures depend on it.  If a weblog happens to be the most expeditious vehicle for vital information to be released, so be it. If that information then makes it to the newspaper and airwaves where more people catch it, even better.  If we the public take action on what we’ve learned no matter where we got it, mission accomplished.  Don’t let artificial arguments over what blogging and journalism are in the minds of pundits or what they ought to be shape your ownership and use of the tools of communication.

Now, where’s the awards ceremony and after party?  Dear Kevin, inquiring minds want to know.