Journalistic Blog Sites

Journalistic blogs are a tricky subject. In many cases the people doing the blogging aren't writing the posts. Instead, they merely collect the news and repost it in blog form (giving credit to the original authors of course). However, some blogs do have original content and are written by actual journalists.

Andrew Sullivan's blog, for example, is a mishmash of news stories and Sullivan's thoughts. Some of Sullivan's posts are on such things as "Exposing the Vatican" and "The First Green Bible." In these posts, Sullivan mainly posts stories from other sources and then comments on them. In other posts he'll feature a poem, a response to a comment or a photograph. This blog definitely differs from traditional reporting. Sullivan offers his opinions and interpretation of news stories and only seems to post what is interesting to him. The content is really unusual and eclectic, but this is not a bad thing as the stories are interesting and not ones readers may be aware of. Because the stories are so varied, it's hard to say who the target audience is. My best guess would be readers "of no party or clique", as that's what Sullivan's banner reads. In all, this blog is amusing and interesting, but I didn't see it as effective because of the eclectic nature of the posts.

Paul Bradshaw is another journalist with a blog. This blog occasionally reposts new stories from other sources, but Bradshaw seems more interested in blogging about being a journalist. for example, two of his posts are titled "How to be a journalism student- the wiki" and "Online journalism job of the week: Keyword Manager". This site differs from traditional reporting because it mostly isn't reporting. Bradshaw simply collects the news and then posts his own ideas about how to be a journalist. The intended audience for this blog is journalists and aspiring journalists. The blog is extremely effective for this audience as it explains new steps being taken in journalism and how to be a journalist.

Dan Gillmor's blog is more straightforward. His is an example of a site that collects the news and reposts it. Gillmor summarizes and comments on each story. However, the voice of the blog is primarily in stories written by other people. This is very different from traditional reporting, as Gillmor merely finds stories that interest him and reposts them. The stories posted are very specific, almost always having to do with business and the economy (49ers Ripoff: Nail the Taxpayers). Thus, this blog is where people interested solely in business can find their news. This is very effective as readers can find stories that interest them in one place and don't have to worry that much about Gillmor's opinion seeping in.

Jeff Jarvis' site is quite a change from Gillmor's. Jarvis posts mainly on his experiences in journalism, from sharing a letter to the editor he wrote to blogging on the Networked Journalism Summit. There really isn't any reporting being done on this site, which makes it a very different type of journalism. Jarvis' posts are really in depth, so I would say the target audience is anyone who is really interested in reading about the media. However, Jarvis' posts are so in depth that readers may find it hard to read, which makes the site not very effective.

The journalistic blog that I found most appealing is that of Romenesko. This blog is similar to that of Gillmor's. This blog just collects and briefly comments on stories from other sources. While this may differ from traditional reporting in that there is no reporting being done, only collecting, this blog is the one that most interested me. The stories are mostly about the journalism industry and the media ("Journalists love blogging because it lets them cut loose" and "Exec says Detroit newsroom cuts shouldn't affect coverage". The audience for this blog would be any journalist interested in learning about the industry. Romenesko is extremely effective as it offers a comprehensive up-to-date look at what is going on in journalism, including print, television, and online. This blog is incredibly useful for any journalist.