Niche Politics

Was James Kotecki a journalist prior to joining politico.com?

No.

Reasons Why?

1. Comparing James Kotecki to Chris Matthews is like comparing the chimp that bangs on square peg in a round hole till he realizes there is square whole, with a gorilla that smashes both the peg and the holes . . . and then poops on the debri (In this analogy, the part of the gorilla is played by Chris Matthews). I write this to say that there is a subtle nuance to Kotecki’s observations that may come from the niche market of youtube politics, or it might come from the fact that he is not obligated mostly by ego to have the loudest voice as it seems Matthews, Olberman, and Papa Bear O’Reilly are. Having the loudest voice however isn’t a prerequisite for being a journalist either so that alone won’t disqualify him from the fourth estate.

2. Going back to the Last Campaign but particularly the Boys on the Bus another big difference is Kotecki straying from the typical news story that has the life of your average cold bug. This was particularly evident during the Democratic Primary where gave shout outs to Congressman Ron Paul Senator Mike Gravel for their interesting approaches and willingness to come to his dorm room. I his post on Dodd on Emergency Cheese was also an example of how while many talking heads were rattling on about what Obama or Hillary said or didn’t say, Kotecki was looking for the candidate that most exemplified his particular ‘field’ of politics and youtube. I guess it could be argued that he, like Matthews et al, is choosing the candidates that epitomize some noble standard, but I think that puts into question more what the standards of the pundit class is. The Dodd youtube clip was a perfect example of how Kotecki personally favored Dodd’s clip because it fufilled specific series of citizen journalism meets voter activism meets youtube. I seems that journalists and pundits can not specifically state what their criteria are for praising or critiquing candidates. The may say its the search for truth or something but I how can you both be a herald of fact and be so partisan as an O’Reilly or Olberman? Kotecki makes his rationalizations clear.

3. EmergencyCheese is Kotecki’s own creation and though he is using the youtube platform, based off the Washingtonian article, he was posting before youtube. Though we often equate the O’Reilly Factor as ‘owned’ by Papa Bear, it is owned by News Corp. If Kotecki is considered a journalist than by logically so would Rupert Murdoch. Kotecki is more like Charles Foster Kane of the first two-fifths of Citizen Kane before he gets all creepy (You have been warned, Mr. Kotecki). Kane was the publisher not a journalist himself, though he influenced what was and wasn’t in his papers. The idea of a citizen journalist is certainly a new one, and I think it applies to Kotecki’s early work on Emergency Cheese, but this I think is unfettered approach to relaying a point of view, combines publisher/editor/journalist which is not the same as a just a journalist.