Kristine Lowe nealy sums up another aspect of the "joining in blogging" idea I've been banging on about for the last week or so:
If the blogosphere has taught me one thing, it is to become a better listener: I love letting the links of blogs I trust or appreciate take me into unknown territory - introduce me to new and interesting takes, angles, voices...
This is exactly the part of blogging that many journalists struggle with. The nature of print publication means that most journalists spend their time talking, rather than listening. And when they do listen, it's to what they want to hear (to build a story) rather than to what people want to say.
There are multiple elements that make up a good blog - a clear tone of voice, a definable subject matter, good writing - and journalists grasp those easily enough. It's the last element, dealing with other bloggers as equals, publishing people with a voice and an audience, rather than the traditional duo of readers/contacts, that I see journalists struggling with. It's an alien mindset, something that's outside the workflow that they're used to, from years and decades of work.
All this begs the question: should we bother trying to get journalists blogging? Is there a value in it, if they find it hard to move beyond something that sits between traditional journalism and opinion pieces? Can't we just leave journalists to do traditional journalism and use their work as a jumping off point for discussion around the blogs?
Even in my most frustration-riddled working days, I think there's a role for the blogging hack here. Long-term specialist journalists have a wealth of knowledge that finds only partial expression in traditional journalism. Blogging can allow them to find an audience for the esoteric they've built up over years of reporting on a subject. (I think David Manners from Electronics Weekly is our best example of this.) It can allow them to give additional information around core areas of expertise (and I'm thinking investigative reporter Tony Collins from Computer Weekly here*). And it can be a powerful tool for journalists to connect with a specific group within their readership, as the Farmers Weekly livestock team have been doing on Taking Stock with the breeder community during the current foot and mouth crisis.
Now I suspect, and experience is beginning to bear this out, that young journalists get this more naturally than most older journalists. But then we have people like Brian Weatherley of Tuck & Driver who blogs happily on BigLorryBlog, proving that the oldies can be the goodies.
So, yes, this is a fight worth having. The big question for professional journalism in the long-term is "will those journalists who don't join in the online discussions still have a role?" I have my answer to that. So does Roy Greenslade, apparently. How about you?
*Just spotted his piece on the pay for top government IT officials. Ouch. Wrong job, Adam, wrong job.)
Even in my most frustration-riddled working days, I think there's a role for the blogging hack here. Long-term specialist journalists have a wealth of knowledge that finds only partial expression in traditional journalism. Blogging can allow them to find an audience for the esoteric they've built up over years of reporting on a subject. (I think David Manners from Electronics Weekly is our best example of this.) It can allow them to give additional information around core areas of expertise (and I'm thinking investigative reporter Tony Collins from Computer Weekly here*). And it can be a powerful tool for journalists to connect with a specific group within their readership, as the Farmers Weekly livestock team have been doing on Taking Stock with the breeder community during the current foot and mouth crisis.
Now I suspect, and experience is beginning to bear this out, that young journalists get this more naturally than most older journalists. But then we have people like Brian Weatherley of Tuck & Driver who blogs happily on BigLorryBlog, proving that the oldies can be the goodies.
So, yes, this is a fight worth having. The big question for professional journalism in the long-term is "will those journalists who don't join in the online discussions still have a role?" I have my answer to that. So does Roy Greenslade, apparently. How about you?
*Just spotted his piece on the pay for top government IT officials. Ouch. Wrong job, Adam, wrong job.)
You know, I think journalists who ignore the blogsophere are loosing out big time. I can't even count all the ways blogging & knowing my way around the blogosphere have benefited me as a journalist.
During a very brief stint as an undergraduate student at Sussex university, long time ago, the dean of the school told me something like, "it's like your are driving a Ferrari compared to the other students, because you have the ability to think for yourself." Now, I found this really strange, because the dean didn't expect his students to be able to think independently until the second year, but being a blogging journalist, is almost like "driving a Ferrari" compared to the other journalists, at least in my part of the world.
Having said that, it took a while from I started blogging to when I started listening. In the beginning, I was much too preoccupied with my own writing, getting the tone right and all of that, since it's a big shift to go from the very structured writing you do as a journalist to blogging. It's a process that doesn't happen over night. In fact, I think blogging is very much a process, constantly evolving, more than any thing else... Hmm, may blog more about this when time allows...
I've said in the past that I sometimes think that it's harder to turn a journalist into a good blogger than it is to turn a random member of the public.
While the journalist may have the writing skills, they often have more to unlearn (or at least let go of) than they have to learn...