Sullivan Forwarding Silver

In “Forwarding,” Joseph Harris describes writing as essentially a conversation, while defining forwarding as anything that continues the conversation; and he explains the four ways people forward texts. He states that people forward texts by Illustrating, Authorizing, Borrowing, and Extending, and each of these have a unique purpose. Harris is quick to draw a distinction between forwarding and countering. He states, “In forwarding a text, you extend its uses; in countering a text, you note its limits.”

By reading The Daily Dish and FiveThirtyEight along with The New York Times, there are many examples of the blogs “forwarding” other news outlets and blogs. One specific example is the special Congressional election for New York’s 23rd district, which transpired last night. The 23rd district race last had some national interest, and because it is in the state of New York, The Times covered it rather extensively. Also, because it was an election that may serve as barometer for the current political climate, the story received significant focus from The Daily Dish and FiveThirtyEight. The New York Times covered the story initially, and explained how the election may be a microcosm for the midterms next year. Because elections are FiveThirtyEight’s primary focus, Nate Silver obviously covered the story extensively in his blog. The unique thing about The Daily Dish is that it covers a relatively high number of stories for a blog, so it could potentially be argued that the Dish is a hybrid between an extensive entity (such as The New York Times) and a more focused, opinionated blog. The Daily Dish’s role in the media ecosphere is an outlet for political commentator Andrew Sullivan to give his opinion on current events, and he often uses other people’s thoughts to do this. This week in The Daily Dish, Sullivan cited FiveThirtyEight’s Nate Silver to explain his opinion on the 23rd district race:

The Democratic brand is marginal in about half the country, but the Republican
brand is radioactive in about two-thirds of it. The biggest story of the cycle
is that a non-Republican conservative, Doug Hoffman, might win. Counterfactual:
if Hoffman had in fact been the Republican nominee in NY-23 all along, would he
be in the same strong position that he finds himself in today? Methinks not: it
would have been easier for Owens -- who isn't much of a Democrat -- to identify
himself as the moderate in the race.

I found it very interesting that Sullivan would use FiveThirtyEight to explain his opinion. This type of forwarding, according to Harris, would be an example of “Borrowing.” Nate Silver, like Sullivan, is a political commentator, so this is an example of borrowing because Sullivan simply used Silver’s opinion to express his own.

This week, Sullivan also referenced FiveThirtyEight to inform his readers of the odds for the race. Because FiveThirtyEight’s election prediction accuracy is so revered, this would be an example of Sullivan forwarding by “Authorizing.” These examples of forwarding are used by Sullivan to enhance his blog; and because political blogs naturally extend the conversation about current events, forwarding is a tool often employed.