From the Interactive Media Conference: Blogging vs. Journalism

OJR's Staci Kramer should have put the question to rest last year, but E&P and Mediaweek nevertheless dubbed this morning's session at their Interactive Media Conference ?Blogging vs. Journalism.? Fortunately, panel members chose not to dwell on that artificial controversy, instead offering practical advice to newspapers which might be considering adding blogs to their websites.

?We're at a tipping point where mainstream media are beginning to embrace interactive media and features like blogs,? said Jeff Pelline, editor at CNET's News.com. Pelline noted that because the Internet has all but eliminated the barriers to entry for alternative news sources such as blogs, traditional news organizations are now realizing that they must offer more interactive services to defend their market share.

Ken Sands, online publisher at the Spokane (Wash.) Spokesman-Review, cautioned newspapers considering blogs to hold off until they can learn to do them right.

?In my experience it is easier to teach a blogger to be a good journalist than it is to teach a journalist to be a good blogger,? Sands said, whose paper publishes 23 active online-only columns. ?Bloggers understand the social network.?

Pelline suggested that a ?blog should capture the conversations in the newsroom that don't get published? which give additional background and perspective to the paper's coverage.

Yet Nick Denton, publisher of Gawker Media, suggested that newspapers ought not to blog, given that newspapers' traditional objection to linking to, or even acknowledging, their competitors made them unable to engage in meaningful online conversations.

Sands and Pelline acknowledged that point, but instead urged journalists to set those objections aside in an effort to better serve readers.

?In many cases reporters have developed more of a relationship with their sources than with their readers,? Sands said. He said that blogs, if they are to succeed, must become a one-stop source for niche information.

?The best blog reduces the amount of work a reader needs to do, even if it means linking to all your competitors.?

The Interactive Media Conference continues through tomorrow in New Orleans.