[MGP-Forum Announce] What people said when I asked them "What would you say to young journalists about blogs."

[Lisa Williams]

I'll be leaving for Harrisburg, PA tomorrow to address a group of young 
journalists at a meeting sponsored by the Pennsylvania Newspaper 
Association and held at the offices of the Patriot-News of Harrisburg.

Between this list, the Norgs Yahoo group, and my friends at the Berkman Center's blog group, I got a bunch of hugely helpful responses.

In return I present to you some notable quotes from answers I got to the question, "What would you say to young journalists about blogs?"

   * “Blogs are a great source for news, especially at the community
     level. But like all sources for news -- at any level – more
     reporting needs to be done before accepting a statement in a blog
     as fact.” -- Jill Lang, journalism instructor, University of
     Massachusetts
   * “The most important thing to tell them is that they must blog
     themselves. I have no idea if they will be receptive to this or
     not. In 2002 they weren’t They thought they had bright careers in
     front of them as Woodwards and Bernsteins. Why should they stoop
     to blog?” Dave Winer, blogging pioneer and author of
     scriptingnews.com, reflecting today on his experience addressing
     journalism students at Stanford in 2002
   * “If you consider yourself a professional journalist, be careful
     how you blog.” – Jill Lang, journalism instructor, University of
     Massachusetts
   * “I’d tell them they’re lucky to be coming into the industry right
     now…now that they’re past the initial “impact” of the Internet on
     the industry. What luck they have, learning how to exist in a 24/7
     news “microcycle” that exists in blogging with the influence and
     integrity of mainstream media. That’s powerful.” – Jennifer
     Kronstain, JenniferKronstain.com and cofounder of PhillyBlog
   * “I am curious what will happen when a full generation of
     journalists arrives on the job without the need to “unlearn” the
     artificial divide between readers and writers.” – Wendy Warren,
     Philadelphia Daily News
   * read them; start one. start another about your area of
     professional interest. use the second one as a clip file when
     looking for jobs. be careful (google is forever, don’t blog drunk,
     etc.) – Ed Cone, blogger, journalist, and columnist for the
     Greensboro News & Record, Greensboro, NC; edcone.com
   * “The best reason for young journalists to have a blog? Because
     doing one – and making it successful with users – teaches you
     about the Web. Tell them that as journalists they don’t just want
     to be on it (the Web) but of it. Then explain what you mean by
     that.” – Jay Rosen, NYU professor and the person behind
     Pressthink.org and NewAssignment.net
   * “be careful what you write. it’s on the record. that’s what I
     would tell them. Also, blogging is not a career choice. it is a
     place to express personal commentary, but there’s not likely to be
     money in it, except for a very few.” Mark Karlin, Editor and
     Publisher, buzzflash.com
   * “Lisa, my suggestion is that you talk to them about some of the
     things you talked to us about at MGP, especially your comments
     about the need for truthfulness, transparency, and tactfulness…I
     worry that some journalists and bloggers think that anything goes
     in the blogosphere.” – Kay Berenson, Publisher, The Recorder,
     Greenfield, MA
   * “Whether it’s an opinion piece or a scoop, be damned sure of what
     you’re writing. Attribute, link, and show your reasoning.”
     blogger, MassMarrier
   * Post constantly, a few times a day if you are inspired, and never
     less than four times a week. It keeps your readers alert and
     inspires you.”, blogger, MassMarrier
   * “I like to go back to the canonical definition of a blog, which is
     a website with entries in reverse chronological order. This
     definition is almost too broad to be of much use, but I think it
     is helpful in framing the discussion. Blogs don’t need to allow
     comments. They don’t need to be about politics. They don’t need to
     be done by people who might be confused for journalists. Only
     around 5% of blogs are political. Most blogs are about personal
     daily life, high school angst, being a stay at home mom, having a
     pet, etc. Of those blogs that are political, many of the bloggers
     don’t consider themselves journalists. They may consider
     themselves closer to op-ed writers or political activists.” Aldon
     Hynes, Orient Lodge
   * “A friend of mine who served in Vietnam said that one of the most
     valuable trophies of combat was a North Vietnamese Army backpack,
     because it was filled with the things seasoned NVA troops knew
     they would need in terrain that was highly familiar to them, since
     it was the terrain of their own country. Whereas the US backpacks
     were filled with things chosen by people back in the states at
     Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri. (Line break) If I were speaking to
     the group, I could give them the US backpack. You can give them
     the NVA backpack.” -- Ralph Whitehead, Jr., professor of
     journalism, University of Massachusetts
   * “Don’t quit your day job. My evidently singular opinion is that
     there are some number of thousands of new blogs started up every
     day and no one reads any of them.” Robert Mann, Mann Tool &
     Electric and contributor to the Deerfield Forum, Deerfield, NH
   * “Many news organizations have ‘no blogging’ policies. There’s a
     sort of fear among editors about journalists who blog. It’s kind
     of weird, but somewhat valid all at the same time. I hope that’s
     going to change in the future, but there’s no telling…One of my
     news librarian colleagues, who had a great weblog, had to shut it
     down or else she was going to get fired.” Jessica Baumgart, news
     librarian, blogger, and associate with the Berkman Center for the
     Internet and Society
   * “I find when I talk to groups about blogs, I often discover that
     people have extreme positions: weblogs are either good or evil;
     full of truth or complete lies; incredibly serious or complete
     jokes, etc., etc. “ Jessica Baumgart, news librarian, blogger, and
     associate with the Berkman Center for the Internet and Society
   * “This is a very sensitive area, and there’s a lot going on with
     it. Contrary to blogospheric hype about how everyone is doing it,
     newspapers are being very cautious on it…Right now, many
     newspapers and broadcast outlets are still struggling with blogs
     and blogging. Many do not have policies regarding blogging and
     online interaction, which has resulted in two high-profile
     journalists being banned from blogging for “sock puppetry.” --
     Tish Grier, online journalist and blogger at the Constant Observer
     (http://spap-oop.blogspot.com/) and has also blogged at Corrante,
     Huffington Post, and Poynter
   * “It’s a place to build relationships that may pay off later. This
     is particularly true if someone is new to a specific geography.
     Local bloggers, treated with some respect, may provide a way to
     connect.” Mal Watlington, blogger, consultant, City Square
     (http://citysquare.typepad.com/) and erstwhile City Manager
   * “The Number One thing I would emphasize is that journalists and
     bloggers would do well to see themselves as partners in the
     provision of information and that each can benefit greatly from
     the other. I’ve never seen this as a competition. It is especially
     true these days that local papers and young journalists are not
     very well-versed in the communities they serve. Much of the
     institutional memory has either died out or been bought out.”
     Robert Winters, mathematician and creator of the Cambridge Civic
     Journal, an online publication about Cambridge, MA (rwinters.com)


-- 
Lisa Williams
lisa at cadence90.com
Google Talk: lisatmh

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