Thursday, May 04, 2006
Newspaper readers looove blogs
Often, following the broadcast of a sporting event, a local radio station will produce a talk show that attempts to lure the game’s audience into a few more hours of airtime. The host will comment on the game, offering the audience a forum to comment on its concerns surrounding the team. Blogs are allowing the same thing to happen in print. Blogs have become printed talk radio – an open interaction between a host and his or her audience.
The Cincinnati Enquirer recently set up blogs for nearly every beat that the newspaper covers including sports, politics and entertainment. In the sports world, fans area all over it. The instant interaction between the newspaper’s respectable and credible reporter allows readers to find breaking news throughout the day. Sometimes the news is as mundane as the evening’s starting lineup, but you can bet that if the starting center fielder is on the bench, the audience will have an opinion on the matter. This interaction is good for the news organization not only because it sells advertisements on pages largely written by venom-spewing baseball fans, but for the instant gratification it allows the readership.
In addition, the beat writer, who normally exists as a faceless scribe, becomes a relatable character. Like a columnist’s relationship with his or her audience, the blogger becomes an individual who jokes with the audience and accepts criticism and teasing as well. The Enquirer’s blogs give the newspaper a constant presence rather than its drab existance as a morning publication previewing evening events from 18 hours beforehand.
People are reading newspapers’ blogs and the reporters seem to be enjoying the process. The Cincinnati Post’s C. Trent Rosecrans took the time after each University of Cincinnati basketball game he covered to “empty out the notebook,” releasing any interesting statistics or quotes that didn’t make it into his morning story. New readers continue to compliment him on his coverage.
For the daily newspaper, and perhaps even more so to the weekly, blogs have become a valuable tool for maintaining the audience’s attention and allowing the news organization to become a more personal part of its readership’s lives.
For more information, check out these Poynter Institute articles comparing journalists and bloggers.
What journalists can learn from bloggers:
http://www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=75383
What bloggers can learn from journalists:
http://www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=75665
The Cincinnati Enquirer recently set up blogs for nearly every beat that the newspaper covers including sports, politics and entertainment. In the sports world, fans area all over it. The instant interaction between the newspaper’s respectable and credible reporter allows readers to find breaking news throughout the day. Sometimes the news is as mundane as the evening’s starting lineup, but you can bet that if the starting center fielder is on the bench, the audience will have an opinion on the matter. This interaction is good for the news organization not only because it sells advertisements on pages largely written by venom-spewing baseball fans, but for the instant gratification it allows the readership.
In addition, the beat writer, who normally exists as a faceless scribe, becomes a relatable character. Like a columnist’s relationship with his or her audience, the blogger becomes an individual who jokes with the audience and accepts criticism and teasing as well. The Enquirer’s blogs give the newspaper a constant presence rather than its drab existance as a morning publication previewing evening events from 18 hours beforehand.
People are reading newspapers’ blogs and the reporters seem to be enjoying the process. The Cincinnati Post’s C. Trent Rosecrans took the time after each University of Cincinnati basketball game he covered to “empty out the notebook,” releasing any interesting statistics or quotes that didn’t make it into his morning story. New readers continue to compliment him on his coverage.
For the daily newspaper, and perhaps even more so to the weekly, blogs have become a valuable tool for maintaining the audience’s attention and allowing the news organization to become a more personal part of its readership’s lives.
For more information, check out these Poynter Institute articles comparing journalists and bloggers.
What journalists can learn from bloggers:
http://www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=75383
What bloggers can learn from journalists:
http://www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=75665
# posted by PASStheTEA_B @ 12:41 PM 
