Republicans and Democrats are wondering what to do with bloggers for their upcoming national conventions. Bloggers are applying for press credentials in hopes of covering the events in ways the mainstream media can’t or won’t. The two major parties have yet to decide whether to allow a select few bloggers, all bloggers, or no bloggers.

“This is a real landmark for the legitimacy of the blogger and a testament to their growing influence,” said Jonathan Dube, who blogs about online journalism. “[But] that doesn’t necessarily make them mainstream, simply because not enough people are reading them right now.”

The New York Post ran an “exclusive” story this morning claiming that Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry had chosen Rep. Richard Gephardt to be his running mate. Of course, Kerry had actually picked Senator John Edwards. If it’s any consolation to the Post, Edwards didn’t know until the last minute either. (link via Romenesko)

Update: At least the Post has a sense of humor about it.

Slate questions the value and plausability of reviewing a mammoth book like Bill Clinton’s 957-page My Life in time for the 24-hour news cycle. Publisher Alfred A. Knopf denied reporters a copy of the book before its official release on June 22. Several papers ran reviews in the next 24-48 hours, though not every reviewer actually read the book. Seems more akin to elementary school book reports than professional book reviews.

A New York Times veteran writer recently wrote a story for the online edition that heavily borrowed from a Wall Street Journal piece, prompting plagiarism charges. The incident was noticed so quickly it underscores the contradictory nature of the Internet for writers:

“The very technology that makes plagiarism so easy to commit

Vice President Dick Cheney dropped the f-bomb on Tuesday in an exchange with Senator Patrick Leahy.

“I felt better afterward,” Cheney told FoxNews, explaining that he doesn’t normally use such language.

“I think he was just having a bad day,” Leahy later told the media.

The unexpected profanity on the Senate floor has caused commotion in the media as editors try to decide which glyphs should replace the actual profanity.

The Sun Times went with “f—” in its article, but not its headline (“VP has no f***n’ patience for senator”). The Kansas City Star went with headline “Says the veep to the senator,

Cameron Strang is a well disguised evangelist who drives an Audi and runs a company with $1.8 million in revenue last year, according to USA Today. The national paper ran a feature on Relevant Media Group today, citing the company’s success with books, a web site, and the flagship magazine.

The piece mentions some of Relevant’s edgier run-ins with the evangelical elite, including a consumer guide to Jesus action figures in the first issue that got the magazine banned from the bookstore at Oral Roberts University (Strang’s alma mater). It also recounts Matthew Turner’s run as editor at CCM magazine before being ousted “when he mixed in secular language and subjects — even hinted that a singer was sexy.” Relevant recently published The Christian Culture Survival Guide by Turner.

The $1.8 million in revenue is mentioned, as well as a new 5,000-square-foot redesigned warehouse as office. What’s not mentioned is the shadowy connection between Relevant Media and Strang Communications, Cameron’s father’s media empire that some rumors say has been giving Relevant free rent and a free ride. Peddling to twenty-somethings may not be as easy as USA Today makes it sound.

But skeletons aside, Relevant has been doing ground-breaking work and this is one more example of the lavish attention they’re receiving from the mainstream press. What other Christian magazines are generating this kind of attention?

Gunmen ambushed and killed an editor with the Mexican weekly, Zeta, in front of his two children. Francisco Ortiz Franco died on the scene. The Zeta is well known for investigating the narcotics industry in Tijuana. This is the third attack on Zeta employees since 1988 when the paper’s cofounder was killed. In 1997 the paper’s publisher was ambushed and badly wounded.