Blogs and journalism

As mentioned previously, I had a Skype conference with two UK journalists last week. We discussed blogging and journalism. Hugh Fraser at Blog Relations ran the show and has uploaded the interview. It's 22 minutes long, you can download it here. It was a very interesting chat. Hope I didn't waffle too much. Will listen back to it later on today. A word of warning to my regular food filth reader - in the near future I'll be blogging more about non-food topics at noodlepie. I'll still be doing Saigon food, but I'll be talking about an increasing amount of other stuff too. In the meantime, here are some thoughts related to the podcast. I originally posted this at stillbop,

"Rethink newspapers. Give every journalist a blog. Journalists blog their features, columns, their hobbies, daft stories about the journey to work, photos of their cat, wotever - anything and everything they're interested in. They tag their work. Section editors receive tagged submissions via an RSS like function. They edit for word count, spelling etc., they wiki through articles with the journalist and/or other editors and anyone else for that matter before forwarding final copy to the printing press/online portal. While printing presses, as we know them, remain with us.

All finished copy runs with a link to the journalist's blog. An important new part of the journalist's job will involve them making their notes, raw copy, interview transcripts, MP3's, pictures etc. available and open for comments on their blog. Discussion of any given story can take place in the main body of the newspaper/newspaper blog, again using a comments-esque feature. Discussion is likely to spill over onto the journalist's own blog."

Technorati Tags: podcast, journalism, citizen journalism

Comments

[foodcrazee]

that indeed is freedom of speech

[pieman]

And freedom to bore foodies senseless :)

[robyn]

Just curious -- wouldn't your ideas re the expanded role of journalists drastically up the number of hours they need to devote to the job? Ie making notes available to the public ... my notes are basically unreadable to anyone but me, wouldn't transcripting be required? Keeping up with blog comments etc. Would journos be up for it?
Then again maybe you're already working 20 hours a day so it'd be no big deal to you.

[pieman]

As I mentioned in the podcast, I have blogged notes on one particular story as an experiment. I will publish all the posts when the story runs (Feb 2).

From this limited experience I would say, yes, it is time consuming, but I believe that's because it's the first time I've done it and I didn't really know what I was doing. I'll do it differently next time and the time after that. With practice I hope to nail a method of blogging research in a useful, informative, creative and non-time consuming manner.

As I mentioned, I think this should be a new feature of a journalist's job i.e. in the job description. Journos, IMO, should only work via blog whether public or internal (public better). Having said that I won't be practicing what I preach anytime soon. I will however be blogging the process of more stories, but only stories I could see benefiting from being online and maybe helping the story too.

Maybe you work differently to me. For many stories I never put pen to paper. For features I generally put pen to paper once or maybe twice; Firstly, when I'm figuring out contacts and vague ideas, then again when I structure the feature. I don't really know how other people work, so I'll be interested to see if some journos think I'm doing something wrong, doing something well, crappy, whatever... As for transcribing. I wouldn't transcribe anything, just stick up the audio file.

I've been emailing back and forth with a bunch of people about this, here's some points I made from that correspondence:

If you have a popular enough blog, or you are fairly well known as a journo and you blog about what you're working on, or thinking of working on, just the very act of blogging could lead you down a path you hadn't previously thought of. I know of some journo/bloggers who ask readers for tips on a story. It seems to work quite well. Not really any different from posting on a forum I guess. But if publications link back in the byline to a journo's blog posts on a particular story that would really enrich the story, even if it's just a couple of posts and a wee debate in the comments.

I think blogging notes etc. as a piece goes to press, and only when it goes to press, is a possible start. And that's what I'll be doing for my story with New Media Age. However, I was chatting with Henry Copeland, founder of BlogAds, the other day and he said, "I don't think reading or writing blogs will be pervasive... blogs are not an experience like TV with something for everyone. They are for the creative elite, folks who are hyper-users of information, folks who want tomorrows news or opinion today."

I think this is the key thing for newspapers/mags. Very, very, very few people will ever bother going to a journo's blog to see what they're doing, or their notes on a particular story. While something might be out there in the public domain on a journo blog, it's not in a form that Joe Public will want to digest. However, 'Hyper-users' - the super brainy, creatives - and those with a vested interest in the story, will.

[omih]

Just some thoughts to add to that: Unless you are working on highly volatile stuff most reporters still use note pads rather than a tape to record quotes. I learnt shorthand in journalism training for this very purpose. But including a downloadable audio of an interview is one thing - providing a transcript of an interview from notes is another.

You paraphrase, just to make it easier to read. You make your interviewee sound more intelligent. When did you ever read a quote from Davd Beckham saying: "Like I say, you know, at the end of the day, I am like whooaa...know what I mean". Although you might here it often on TV or radio.

You can't take that stuff down. In my journo days I have never changed the sense of what an interviewee has said but I might end up writing their quotes for them. People actually like it - they come across as more intelligent.

But provide a transcription of those notes and it just looks daft.

I don't think all journalists should have blogs. My only problems with newspapers is that they slavishly follow political parties and heavy advertisers. Whats more they cave in to PRs too often and are too scared to risk alienation - whether its Downing Street or Old Trafford.

I don't think blogging is the be all and end all. We can pat ourselves on the back but I'm not sure there is a single investigative blogger out there. Where is the blogging Greg Palast, Paul Foot or John Pilger?

The rest of us are just running around in circles commenting on what "real journalists" say. We might be drawing different conclusions but we're still working with the same information.

I don't actually think blogging will save newspapers. And I don't think blogging will kill it either. What I do think is that newspapers aren't embracing the net. They aren't interative enough.

I do think every on-line story should have a comment function. I think journalists should include email addresses. I think paying for any section of an on-line newspaper is just daft. There are a million otherways to cover your costs.

Newspapers are still hoping the internet will go away. Which is stupid considering the options open to them - not to mention the cost savings of not actually having to print the papers.

[pieman]

You're right blogging isn't 'the be all and all' but it is a fabulous tool. Maybe it's only folks who actually use it who can see the power it has. How you can use it in very creative ways.

Having the journo email address at the end of a newspaper feature is a good idea. The Guardian used to do it, I think they stopped for some reason. Spam? Having said that, it's pretty easy to Google around for a journo's email address or phone number.

However, I keep coming back to the thought that if all the journos work is on a personal blog and the relevent series of research and itnerview posts are linked back to in the newspaper byline, how much richer the experience of the newspaper story would be.

Being already convinced this is a way I would like to work, at least on a few stories, Figuring out how to do this in a useful, non-too time consuming way is what now interests me.

I agree online stories should have a comment-like function. But, when a story atracts 500++ comments, you've got to wonder how useful that is. Obviously, it's useful to voice your opinion, but, you know, getting your voice heard... it's just noise. Comments boxes will have to evolve somehow. No idea how :)

Newspapers are not quite with this world, are they? The Guardian being the obvious exception. More on that later. Been corresponding with a Telegraph man about all that.

[omih]

I don't have a problem with comment boxes having 500 entries. When i worked in papers we thought readers' letters were the be all and end all but on the whole it was limited to a few cranks.

I can understand that there would have to be system where abusive emails were deleted but that is easy enough to do.

I always think it is about getting more. "Added Value" as they call it in the marketing world. If the Internet can bring more than the newspaper then all the better - it certainly shouldn't bring you less as is currently usually the case.

So on-line can bring you podcasts as well and video snippets and direct you to interesting links. The news article may be adorned with a photo but why not put all the other snaps on line to on a database?

When free papers were the in-thing everyone was talking about how they were the future. Various national newspapers speculated on going free. In the end none did. But this is a way of going free with a great deal less costs - without hopefully completely selling out to advertisers.

Going back to what I said about investigative journalists, and this is still the crux of it all to me - there are no investigative bloggers. But using part of your idea, if Palast or Pilger had a blog and they updated it as often as I update my blog, or you update yours then I would check back every day.

These guys have played with the concept of a blog, along with Michael Moore but their heart so obviously isn't in it. You can't help but think everything they write is "legalled" and they don't want to make an arse of themselves in print by saying something that they might later detract.

But making an arse of yourself occasionally is also part of blogging.

Here's an interesting thought...a little off target perhaps but...if you'll forgive me I've always had a mistrust of blogs with wishlists and tipjars and all that. I admire the cheek of it in a way but for me it kind of defeats the purpose ie no one has a hold over what we write...but anyway.. each to their own. I'll cotinue..

Working as a volunteer, as I do, on a subsitence wage, I would love to be able to identify a job and an organisation that I would like to work with and then seek donations to make that happen. In return I would blog the adventure daily and a charitable organisation would benefit both from assistance (for what it's worth) and the added publicity I would bring.

Sorry, just recently read about a KOTO (www.streetvoices.com.au) style organisation in Nicaragua (my second favourite country in the world after 'Nam) that only has eight trainees as opposed to our 64. I'm intrigued about working for an organisation like that in its infantcy - and it would only cost about $3,000 USD in living costs.

[pieman]

Agreed on the "snaps online to a database" idea. Exactly what I do with almost every food post nowadays - it's there for them's that wannit, easily ignored for them's that don't. And I'm a slavish documenter - as you may haved gathered :)

I don't know whether or not there are any "investigative bloggers". I would wager that there are. And I would think freelance journos would be among those. To my mind http://www.livesinfocus.org/ comes pretty close.

As for your idea about blogging for donations to go and do a job. Again, journos are doing that. I'm sure plenty others do it too.

Lives in focus is funded that way. You must read this: http://www.ojr.org/ojr/stories/051215junnarkar/ I should be Skypeing the guy behind that in a day or two for a feature I'm thinking of doing. Back to Iraq isn another http://www.back-to-iraq.com/ donation driven project.

[realityshowsbeginscom]

I like to watch the reality shows on television. Can anyone
Update about the latest reality shows on air .