The I-Time Media Observer

Why Cleveland Plain Dealer Wants to Aggregate Northeast Ohio Bloggers

John Kroll, Director of Training and Digital Development for The Cleveland Plain Dealer, issued a call on January 15, 2010 for bloggers and Twitter users in Northeast Ohio, USA, to register with Cleveland.com, The Plain Dealers website.  According to Kroll, “Northeast, Ohio, has a thriving online community, filled with creative and thoughtful bloggers as well as lively Twitter users.”

Some of the best political blogs I’ve ever read are produced by Ohio bloggers. I think The Plain Dealer is smart to try to aggregate bloggers in its circulation area, so readers will get to them by going through Cleveland.com. I wanted to know what The Plain Dealer expected to gain, so I emailed Kroll on January 17, 2009. He responded within an hour, with the following:

One of the the traditional roles of newspapers is to create a common ground for the whole community. We want to bring that online. Cleveland.com   is the region's biggest and most popular site, so it just makes sense to host community-wide projects like this.

The more we can make Cleveland.com a community resource, the greater the likelihood we can continue to sustain the reporting that digs out  the truth and shares the good news. To do that, we have to acknowledge that we're not the only source of news and commentary. (This is one of  several moves we're making. Another is to increase our use of outside links to supplement our stories; the directory will help us find alternative voices.)

And, finally, we want to know what we're missing. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of interesting, well-written, informed blogs in the area. But most of them exist in bubbles, invisible beyond their small audiences. We would like to expand our knowledge of the talent in Northeast Ohio, and we think our readers would, too.

If you want to read Kroll’s entire Plain Dealer post, see “Northeast Ohio bloggers and tweeters: Register with us to reach a new audience.”

Note: This post can also be found at The Blogging Journalist, one of my other blogs.

Technorati Tags: John Kroll,The Cleveland Plain Dealer,Cleveland.Com,Northeast Ohio Bloggers

A Journalist offers Advice To Bloggers

Michael Duff, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, Friday, January 01, 2010, writing in a post headlined “Duff: To techies, 2009 will be remembered as the year the Internet sold out”:

Here’s my advice to bloggers in 2010: Don’t try to be TMZ. TMZ already exists and they’re better at being TMZ than you are. Don’t try to compete with giants on their home turf. Focus on what makes your site unique — the experience, the opinions and the personality of your writers. Don’t parrot the gossip sites, react to them. Critique them.

Duff encourages bloggers to, “Find a voice and trust it. Don’t worry about the 30,000 readers who rush in from Digg and leave your site in 28 seconds.”

While Duff’s advice is good, I doubt it will be read by many bloggers. It’s the stuff produced by the loud-mouths that gain attention.

Note: This item is cross-posted at The I-Time Media Observer, one of my other blogs.

Technorati Tags: Michael Duff,Lubbock Avalanche-Journal,Bloggers

An interview With Journalist Nick Clayton

The Topeka Capital-Journal of Topeka, Kansas, USA, has an informative interview with blogging journalist and Topeka native Nick Clayton. The American University graduate currently lives in “the Eastern European country of Georgia, where he has worked as a freelance journalist for the past six months,” according to the interview. He arrived in Georgia in June 2009.

He also “teaches journalism at the University of Georgia.” .

For more, see “Topekan reporting from Georgia.” Clayton’s articles can be read at his Three Kings blog, which covers “The ongoing chess game between the U.S., E.U. and Russia.”

Note: This item is cross-posted at The Blogging Journalist, one of my other blogs.

Technorati Tags: Journalist Nick Clayton,Topeka Capital-Journal,CJOline.com

StarNews Journalist Works With Colleagues To Improve Their Blogs

Si Cantwell, columnist for the StarNews and StarNewsOnline.com of Wilmington, North Carolina, USA, reported on December 22, 2009, that Rachel George, a blogging journalist who “covers prep sports for the StarNews,” is “working with StarNews staffers including me to improve our blogs. She’ll will be devoting quite a bit of her time to that in the coming year,” he noted.

Cantwell said, “Her Varsity Now blog is nearly always among the day’s Top 5 most-read blogs.” But why the interview? “I thought her insights into blogging might benefit other bloggers,” he wrote in “5 questions with sportswriter Rachel George about blogging.” I highly recommend the interview.

Note: This item is cross-posted at The Blogging Journalist, one of my other blogs.

Technorati Tags: StarNews,StarNewsOnline.com,Rachel George,Si Cantwell,Blogging Journalists

Think Tanks, Bloggers and Journalists

Recommended: Nathan Hodge’s December 18, 2009, post at Wired headlined “Think-Tanks and the Reporters Who Heart Them.” Contends Hodge: “Think tanks have hired some excellent in-house military affairs bloggers.”

Technorati Tags: Think Tanks,Journalists,Military Affairs Bloggers