Heres the Handout

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Heres the Handout

• www.timporter.com/firstdraft/BloggingTheBeat.pps

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• Its hard to predict things,
• particularly things in the future-- Yogi Berra,
  Yankee Great

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• While I've been a journalist for
• almost three decades now, and still firmly
  believe in the traditional journalistic
  standards, I think it's imperative we present our
  news outside the box.
• Gery Woelfel, The Woelfel World of Sports, Racine
  Journal Times
  

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Follow the Reader
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From Print to the Web

• "A significant percentage of newspaper readers
  have transferred their preference from print to
  online editions"
  
• Gerry Davidson, Nielsen//NetRatings

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Here are the Readers

• Newspaper websites are contributing significant
  numbers of readers who do not necessarily read
  the printed publications
  
• EP on Scarborough study, 6/21/05
• Atlanta Journal-Constitution
• Add in online Readership goes up 5 (233,000
  readers)
  
• "We no longer consider our print audience to be
  separate from our online audience
  
• Jim Wilson, AJC
• Online readers younger
• Average age of newspaper reader 53
• Online newspaper readers Nearly 1-in-4 is
  between 18 and 34
  

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Follow the Money

• Online newspaper advertising
• Ad spending online continued its double-digit
  growth in the first quarter, increasing by 39.7
  percent from the same period a year ago to 455
  million
• NAA, May 2005

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Oh, Oh Pop Quiz!!!

• Can you
• name this man?

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The Audience WAS Listening
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Now it is Talking Back
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News is a Conversation

• So Lets Join In

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Why Blog?

• The blog has also helped me develop the beat by
  connecting with people I might not otherwise
  connect with.
  
• Todd Bishop, Seattle Times
• It's another way to reach another part of our
  readership.
  
• Michael Landauer, Dallas Morning News
• I think blogging has also sharpened my
  reporting.
  
• Michael Bazely, San Jose Mercury News

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Types of Newspaper Blogs

• Like papers, there are
• News blogs
• Features blogs
• Sports blogs
• Columnist blogs
• Event blogs
• Editor blogs
• Group blogs
• Want more?
• See the list at cyberjournalist.net

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News Blogs Technology

• Silicon Beat
• Michael Bazely, Matt Marshall (Internet, venture
  cap reporters), San Jose Mercury News
  
• We write about and for tech-savvy people who get
  most of their information on the Web, and we
  needed to reach them on their terms.
  

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News Blogs Local Government

• Inside Scoop
• Matthew Williams, Mark Binker (government
  reporters), Greensboro, News-Record
  
• My favorite type of entry involves scanning in
  original memos and other documents into PDF's so
  people can read things for themselves.
  

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News Blogs Some Others

• The Front Pew
• Nancy McLaughlin, Religion reporter, Greensboro
  News-Record
  
• Microsoft Blog
• Todd Bishop, Tech writer, Seattle P-I
• Health Beat
• Heather Lalley, Spokesman-Review
• Job Blog
• Staff, Boston Globe

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Feature Blogs RVs

• Wheel Life
• Julianne Crane, Spokesman-Review

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Sports Blogs

• The Woelfel World of Sports
• Gery Woelfel, Racine Journal Times
• My blogs have been presented in a variety of
  ways sometime they're short and concise at
  other times, they are lengthy and in-depth. In
  both cases, I make every attempt to make them
  timely.

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Sports Blogs

• Mariners Weblog
• Seattle PI sports staff
• What can you expect to find on the Mariners
  Blog? Breaking news, links to what people are
  saying about the team, a closer look at the
  numbers and more. We'll also offer up few
  opinions of our own and invite you to do the
  same.

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Sports Blogs
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Columnist Blogs

• California Insider
• Daniel Weintraub, Sacramento Bee
• "If our world is changing, we simply have to
  change with it. We have to engage more with our
  readers, become more a part of the conversation
  and less of a lecturer.
• Weintraub on Pressthink, 11/01/04

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Event Blogs

• Politics
• NY Times, USA Today, Guardian, Seattle Times,
  Wash. Post
  
• Science
• NY Times (Arctic)
• Sports
• Olympics (USA Today), NCAA (Charlotte Observer,
  Seattle Times)
  
• News
• Anniversary of Station Nightclub fire (100 dead)
• Providence Journal
• http//www.projo.com/blogs/stationfire/

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Editor Blogs

• Virtual Greality
• Chris Cobler, Greeley Tribune
• My blog is one of the top-viewed pages on our
  Web site, so it has increased my reach as an
  editor.
  
• Others
• John Robinson, Greensboro
• Chris Lopez, Contra Costa Times

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Group Blogs

• Daily Briefing
• Editors, Spokesman-Review
• Inside the news process
• Each weekday morning and afternoon, the
  editorial staff of The Spokesman-Review meets to
  discuss that morning's paper and the coverage
  planned for tomorrow. We'll use this blog to help
  involve you in that process.

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OK, Smart Guy

• Now What?

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Before You Blog

• There are questions about
• The advantages
• As well as some disadvantages
• And that pesky edit-or-not-to-edit debate
• And, of course, ethics
• Luckily
• There are answers

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The Upside

• Greater reach within your community
• Geographic or virtual
• Write are more of an insider level
• More sources
• More time for in-depth stories
• Put the routine on line
• More information to readers
• Print Web More

• More credibility
• Source documents online
• Sharper reporting
• Writing to learn"
• Web lets you know what people are reading
• Closer to readers
• Web allows instant feedback on your work
• Hey, its fun
• Be creative, have a voice

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Upside New Audience

• I was at an event where one employee introduced
  me to another as, you know, that guy who writes
  the Microsoft blog for the P-I. That was an
  eye-opener for me, because it was pretty clear
  that they didn't know I wrote for the traditional
  newspaper, or didn't care.
• Todd Bishop, Microsoft Blog, Seattle P-I

• When I call people for stories or attend
  work-related events, many people know me now from
  the blog, not the paper.
  
• Michael Bazeley, Silicon Beat, Mercury News

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Upside More knowledge

• It's the whole writing to learn philosophy.
  I'm posting an average of three items or so a
  day, sometimes more, and in that way I get deeply
  engaged with a lot more topics than I might
  otherwise.
• Todd Bishop, Microsoft Blog, Seattle P-I

• I think blogging has also sharpened my
  reporting. We are spending more time mining our
  beats, talking to sources and reading about
  issues. We're consuming more information, which
  can only be good.
• Michael Bazeley, Silicon Beat, Mercury News

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Upside More in-depth stories

• Does it help my reporting? Yes. It does take
  some time to blog, but it saves me from writing a
  whole story about some marginally important item
  that I might have felt necessary if I didn't have
  another outlet. That gives me more time for
  in-depth stories that make it into the paper.
• Matt Williams, Inside Scoop, Greensboro
  News-Record

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Upside Feedback

• That's the best part. We allow readers to post
  comments on all of our articles. They regularly
  let us know about any error or hole in a story.
  They do the same on my blog.
• Chris Cobler, editor, Greeley Tribune

• We can see what people are saying about us and
  who is reading us because in the blogosphere,
  people link to you and comment on your work. It's
  instant feedback. I love it.
• Michel Bazeley, San Jose Mercury News

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Upside Hey, its fun!

• So why do we blog? Mostly for blogging's sake, I
  would say. It's fun. It's another outlet. It's
  another way to reach another part of our
  readership. As creative people, aren't we always
  striving for that? I mean, where else would I
  have written about the greatest movie lines this
  week? Not in an editorial or a column. But our
  readers on the blog liked to talk about it.
• Michael Landauer, editorial writer, Dallas
  Morning News

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The Downside

• Blogging takes time
• Have to add it to the workday
• Online audience is still limited
• Still need all those dead trees
• Spam
• Some people just arent very nice and you will
  hear from them
  
• Its not right for everybody
• Requires motivation and dedication
• Some blogs need a point of view

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Downside Time

• I try to be strict about limiting myself to an
  hour of work on the weblog each day, generally in
  the morning, but sometimes it can take a little
  more time. There's a risk that you can take too
  much time away from your work for the
  newspaper.
• Todd Bishop, Seattle P-I

• Because we try to distinguish ourselves by
  posting original, reported content, it's
  sometimes like having a second job. Consequently,
  Matt blogs early in the morning. I tend to blog
  later at night. We do it, though, because we
  are excited by the medium and how it's helped
  us.
• Michael Bazeley, Mercury News

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Downside Spam

• The feedback we get is often bitter, personal
  and hateful, more so than in response to what we
  print because the blog is more personal in
  nature. They feel like they know you and can
  attack you personally more.
• Michael Landauer, Dallas Morning News

• you're also doing things like monitoring the
  comments to delete the spam and make sure no one
  gets out of hand.
  
• Todd Bishop, Seattle P-I

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Downside Not for everybody

• I'm not sure that all beats lend themselves to
  it and a reluctant blogger will probably suck.
  God forbid we end up with any more crappy blogs
  than we already have.
• Michael Bazeley, Mercury News

• Blog because you want to and you're bursting
  with unused information from your beat. If you're
  not interested in your beat, it will show in the
  blog.
• Matt Williams, Greensboro News-Record

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To Edit or Not to Edit
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To Edit or Not to Edit

• Kirk Full edit ahead
• The assistant business editor reads my posts
  before I publish them. But it's not like the
  intensive editing process that you go through for
  a newspaper story.
• Todd Bishop,
• Seattle P-I
• It's unfathomable to me how any media outlet
  could allow its newsroom to publish unedited
  content, whether in print or on the Web.
  
• Tony Marcano, (former Sacramento Bee ombudsman)

• Picard Make it so
• There isn't really one. We agreed from the
  beginning that editors would back-read as they
  see fit.
  
• Michael Bazeley, Mercury News
• Editors kill voice. They'd edit for holes in
  the story, so I'd overwrite the thing Because
  it's not edited, it feels more like an informal
  email you wrote to a friend explaining something
  that happens on your beat.
• Matt Williams, News Record

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Other Issues

• Scooping the paper
• I've run some profiles of start-up businesses a
  few days before they found their way into the
  paper. I don't see a problem with that. We're
  publishing to different audiences. But not
  everyone agrees.
• Michael Bazeley, Mercury News

• Ethics
• If you're not a columnist, keep away from
  opinion. This isn't the outlet to say what you
  really think about the mayor. I have fun with the
  blog and write informally, but I would never
  write anything I couldn't justify under my byline
  in a news story.
• Matt Williams, News Record

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Words of Wisdom

• Topic
• Pick one with a built in audience
• Only tackle a subject about which you're
  passionate. Otherwise, it's just another
  chore...
  
• Chuck Darrow, Phillies Blog, Courier Post
• Time
• Be ready to spend it

• Have a voice
• Practice under the radar
• Be interesting
• More than facts
• Follow your instincts
• Interaction
• Dont solicit let it build
• Comments follow content

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• I always get a chuckle out of fellow journalists
  (who think) blogs are the future of journalism. I
  beg to disagree I think they're the present of
  journalism.
• Gery Woelfel, The Woelfel World of Sports, Racine
  Journal Times

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Thanks to

• Michael Bazeley www.siliconbeat.com
• Todd Bishop http//blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/mi
  crosoft
  
• Matthew Williams http//blog.news-record.com/scoo
  pblog
  
• Michael Landauer www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent
  /dws/blogs/opinion/
  
• Cyberjournalist.net

• Gery Woelfel www.journaltimes.com/nucleus/index.p
  hp?blogid24
  
• Chris Cobler www.greeleytrib.com/apps/pbcs.dll/se
  ction?CategoryBLOG
  
• Chuck Darrow
• www.courierpostonline.com/blogs/darrow.html
• Ken Sands Spokane Spokesman-Review

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Heres the Handout

• Tim Porter
• tim_at_timporter.com
• www.timporter.com/firstdraft
• 415-381-9945