Wonkette. If that does not bring a smile to your face, listening to her will. It could, alternatively, leave you frothing at the mouth, but that's a risk you take with her. Ana Marie Cox, the Wonkette and editor of the political blog wonkette.com, talks about her life, work, blogs in general and life again in this keynote interview with Evan Smith at the South by Southwest Interactive Festival.

Beginning with the obvious question, "Why the name Wonkette?" the interview switches between personal and the professional spaces several times covering some real hard topics. Are bloggers who have been railing against the big media machine, becoming a part of the machine themselves? How does she balance things as disparate as New York, marriage and Washington DC?

Is blogged news not as credible as mainstream news? Is journalism by association trumping the traditional journalism by validation? Is the hubbub created by blogs around some failed topics working to the detriment of journalism by eliminating all further discussion? Are bloggers even journalists?

Does being a print journalist make for a better blogger? Is the Wonkette liable for what she writes? Ana Marie Cox takes these questions head on and answers them in her inimitable style and finishes off with a flourish answering who is meaner - Ana Marie Cox or the Wonkette?

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Ana Marie Cox is the Wonkette and the voice behind the snarky political website Wonkette.com. In the 90s, she contributed her wit to suck.com. Ana Marie Cox prefers to keep much of her bio under wraps, saying "If you write what I do, wouldn't you?"

Resources:

• Wonkette.com
• SXSW Interactive

This presentation is one of a series from the South by Southwest Interactive Festival held in Austin, Texas, March 11-15, 2005.

For Team ITC:

• Description editor: Arun Tanksali
• Post-production audio engineer: Stuart Hunter