NEWSWEEK ANNOUNCES THREE NEW BLOGS FOR

                          ‘THE RUCKUS,’ A NEW GROUP POLITICS BLOG

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               IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE MEDIA BLOGGERS ASSOCIATION    

            (MBA),  THE RUCKUS FEATURES GUEST BLOGGERS FROM THE

                                                 LEFT, RIGHT AND CENTER.

              New York—Newsweek and the Media Bloggers Association (MBA) have invited three new blogs to join ‘The Ruckus,’ a group blog about politics published by Newsweek.com. Joining ‘The Ruckus’ are Brian Leubitz of Calitics.com, Jeralyn Merritt of TalkLeft.com and David Oatney of The World According to Oatney (http://oatneyworld.blogspot.com).

               “The newest contributors to ‘The Ruckus’ represent key states in the 2008 presidential race—California, Colorado and Tennessee,” said Deidre Depke, editor of Newsweek.com. “As the campaign progresses, we’ll periodically introduce new blogs to reflect the changing political landscape.”

“The Media Bloggers Association is excited to team with Newsweek in bringing additional voices into the robust political dialog that has characterized ‘The Ruckus’ since its launch in late 2007,” said Robert Cox, president of MBA.

              Launched in December 2007, ‘The Ruckus’ includes posts related to the 2008 campaign from nine MBA-member bloggers with a variety of political views and backgrounds, representing different parts of the country on a single page. The blog gives Newsweek.com readers a convenient sampling of some of the best political blogging from across the country and from key primary states.

“In the grand tradition of American political conversation, ‘The Ruckus’ offers a broad spectrum of political argument and analysis taking place in the blogosphere,” Depke said. “A healthy democracy requires debate and a lively conversation and we’re excited about publishing the opinions of our guest bloggers and the comments from their readers.”

               ‘The Ruckus’ (http://www.blog.newsweek.com/blogs/theruckus/default.aspx) joins Newsweek’s growing stable of blogs, including Stumper, a politics blog by Newsweek’s Andrew Romano (http://www.blog.newsweek.com/blogs/stumper/default.aspx). Other participants in ‘The Ruckus’ include John Amato, crooksandliars.com; Faye Anderson, andersonatlarge.typepad.com; Joe Gandelman, themoderatevoice.com; James Joyner, outsidethebeltway.com; Ed Morrissey, captainsquartersblog.com; and Oliver Willis, oliverwillis.com.

To make way for the three new bloggers, participating blogs from early primary states are leaving ‘The Ruckus,’ including Dean Barker, bluehampshire.com; Adam Fogle, palmettoscoop.com; and Chris Woods, bleedingheartland.com. “These excellent blogs  helped our readers gain invaluable insights into the political process in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, and we are indebted to them for their efforts,” said Depke.

About Newsweek:

Founded in 1933, Newsweek provides comprehensive coverage of national and international affairs, business, culture, science and technology, and arts and entertainment. Headquartered in New York, Newsweek has 20 bureaus located in the U.S. and around the globe. In addition to its U.S. edition, Newsweek publishes three English-language editions overseas and is the only news magazine with six weekly local-language editions—in Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Polish, Arabic Chinese and Russian. Newsweek’s worldwide circulation is more than 3.5 million and a total readership of more than 21 million. The magazine appears in more than 190 countries. Newsweek holds more National Magazine Awards, given by the American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME), than any other newsweekly.

Newsweek.com, launched in Oct. 1998, offers daily news updates, Web-only columns from Newsweek’s top writers, photo galleries, audio and video reports from correspondents, podcasts, mobile content and archives as well as all content from the weekly print edition. The site has won more than 20 awards since 2002 and has been nominated twice for a National Magazine Award.

About the Media Bloggers Association:

The Media Bloggers Association (www.mediabloggers.org) is a nonpartisan organization dedicated to promoting, protecting and educating its members; supporting the development of “blogging” or “citizen journalism” as a distinct form of media; and helping to extend the power of the press, with all the rights and responsibilities that entails, to every citizen. The MBA has provided legal assistance to hundreds of bloggers since it was founded in 2004. The MBA has managed blogger credentialing for two presidential debates and a major federal trial (U.S. v. Libby).

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