Citizen e-journalist b!X is profiled today in a lengthy piece in The Oregonian.
[snip]His real name is Christopher Frankonis, but everyone who’s anyone in Portland political circles knows him simply as b!X. And during the past year and a half, this college dropout with no journalism experience has become the must-read source for those who follow city government.[snip]
But unlike most bloggers, who typically link to previously reported material and then offer their own analysis, b!X is unusual because he’s going out and doing his own legwork. Armed with a black spiral notebook, a laptop and a homemade press pass, the admittedly shy and soft-spoken Frankonis has become a familiar face at City Council hearings, county task force meetings and news conference crushes, quietly forging something that is one step beyond the Fourth Estate. [snip]
In fact, what some fans love about b!X (who, when he could afford cable, watched C-Span and the NASA channel incessantly) is his painstakingly thorough coverage of meetings and hearings that would hardly warrant two paragraphs in most newspapers — what City Commissioner Erik Sten, a faithful “Portland Communique” reader (“Everybody at City Hall reads b!X”), calls the “tidbits of news you don’t get other places.” [snip]
By the time the debate finished at 8:40 p.m., he had logged an 11-hour day. He had ridden six buses, downed five cups of coffee, smoked about 71/2 cigarettes and written one story. He had made no money. [snip]
Ya’ gotta love him!
Now help us find someone who loves what he does enough to pay him to do it!!