Blogs vs. newspapers
The debate continues and escalates. Is blogging the latest scourge to afflict newspapers? Some editors weigh in. I happen to be in the Doug Clifton school: blogs are helpful to newspapers and to the community at large.
Operating in a city with a healthy "alternative" press, we're used to partisan attacks on our coverage, ethics and standards. If you pay attention, you can use them to get better. Blogs do the same thing. As bloggers post information we think our readers would be interested in, we pursue it, perhaps not as quickly as we should, but that's another issue. They question our coverage; we try to address the questions or use them to improve ourselves.
Of course, the sooner newspapers realize that blogs aren't going away, the better. And I say that acknowledging that I came late to this party. This one is all of three weeks old, and I already can't imagine not doing it. (Although, I admit it is difficult to keep up.) So, to me, the question is not whether blogs are a scourge to newspapers, but how are newspapers going to use them to get better?
Comments (1)
To report abuse of the comment feature on this site, please use the feedback form at the bottom of any page.
Yes, the interactiveness of blogging makes it very hard not to like doing it, and you, just like anyone who calls himself a writer, can't help but feel compelled to write, be it blogs, columns, or in my case-- poetry.
As for learning how to us web-logs: Well considering the fact that most bloggers still haven't learned all the ways we can use web-logs, how can we expect you media guys to have a complete grasp of everything we might bring to you?
In time...
Posted on September 15, 2004 8:51 PM