Sunday, June 11, 2006
The Spokesman-Review does it right...
I just spent an hour perusing The Spokesman-Review, of Spokane, Wash., Web site. What a goldmine. I'm impressed by the scope and thoughtfulness of its blogs and other interactive features. Readers are given opportunity to reflect on and respond to news coverage, as well as learn about the personal ticks and beliefs of The S-R news staff. My personal favorites: "Ask the Editors," "Eye on Olympia," and a recent feature that's essentially the diary of a 17-year-old in rehab for meth and pot addiction. Wow. Online publisher Ken Sands has done so much right. It seems to me that he really investigated how online could reinforce traditional news values. I applaud him.
Sands offers a harsh reality check to newspapers editors on the verge of jumping on the online bandwagon at http://www.mediacenterblog.org/2005/04/it_can_be_tough. As he says, it's tough to do what one hasn't done before. His advice - to start small, think specific and focus on topics instead of writers - are practical and useful. And they're bit-sized enough to implement with ease.
I don't know is his closing comment is true: that it's easier to turn a good blogger into a good journalist than vis versa. Transition takes time, and in the way that he and his staff managed to use journalistic principles as guidelines for their blogs, I expect other newspapers will have the inclination to do the same. They may not do it correctly immediately, but new journalists rarely outmatch their more seasoned counterparts. Laziness, insecurity, ignorance: These are everyone's excuses. I'm glad that Sands is so willing to share his knowledge, which I think is another mark of his online training. The Internet is about inclusiveness, and print media has probably been too full of itself for too long. Humility, in every field, every personality and in all teachings, never hurts.
Sands offers a harsh reality check to newspapers editors on the verge of jumping on the online bandwagon at http://www.mediacenterblog.org/2005/04/it_can_be_tough. As he says, it's tough to do what one hasn't done before. His advice - to start small, think specific and focus on topics instead of writers - are practical and useful. And they're bit-sized enough to implement with ease.
I don't know is his closing comment is true: that it's easier to turn a good blogger into a good journalist than vis versa. Transition takes time, and in the way that he and his staff managed to use journalistic principles as guidelines for their blogs, I expect other newspapers will have the inclination to do the same. They may not do it correctly immediately, but new journalists rarely outmatch their more seasoned counterparts. Laziness, insecurity, ignorance: These are everyone's excuses. I'm glad that Sands is so willing to share his knowledge, which I think is another mark of his online training. The Internet is about inclusiveness, and print media has probably been too full of itself for too long. Humility, in every field, every personality and in all teachings, never hurts.
# posted by Mia @ 3:01 PM 
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Mia,
I really enjoyed "Ask the Editors" as well. I think that is one of blogging's greatest advantages: direct access to media staff. And yeah, the whole, "It's easier to teach a blogger journalism than to teach a journalist blogging" was hard to stomach, but maybe that tells us something...
I really enjoyed "Ask the Editors" as well. I think that is one of blogging's greatest advantages: direct access to media staff. And yeah, the whole, "It's easier to teach a blogger journalism than to teach a journalist blogging" was hard to stomach, but maybe that tells us something...
# posted by 
: 6:12 PM
: 6:12 PM
I feel like for journalists it's harder because blogging is more intuitive. For a blogger, we can teach them some basic steps - talk to people from both sides, read through your article a few times, make some phone calls etc. The skills there are concrete.
Getting an old journalist to get that stick unlodged and loosen up a bit is a little more difficult. As that old song about magic goes "It's like trying to tell a stranger about rock and roll."
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Getting an old journalist to get that stick unlodged and loosen up a bit is a little more difficult. As that old song about magic goes "It's like trying to tell a stranger about rock and roll."
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