The document discusses blogging for journalism. It notes that the Washington Post has about 80 blogs, with sports and religion blogs being popular. It argues that blogging should be treated as journalism itself rather than an add-on. One editor does not edit staff blogs due to concerns about slowing the process and promoting uniformity over individuality. Successful journalist blogs require spending 3+ hours per day on writing, editing, monitoring comments, and research. Frequency of posts can vary from daily to over multiple days for live-blogging. The document raises issues and questions about comments, links, time commitment, and analytics related to running a successful journalist blog.

1. Blogging for Journalism
Courtesy of:
Mindy McAdams
University of Florida

2. “We’re in a battle every day
for traffic. People are
very, very sporadic
on how they use the Web and
the sites they go to.”
Jim Brady, vice president and executive editor,
washingtonpost.com (AP report, Oct. 5, 2007)

3. Washingtonpost.com
has about 80 blogs.
Sports and religion blogs
have proved popular
with readers.
AP report, Oct. 5, 2007. Attributed to Jim Brady,
vice president and executive editor, washingtonpost.com

5. “The right question is, ‘How
can I spend more time with my blog?’
… Rather than assume
that blogging is an add-on
… taking away time
from ‘serious’ journalism, how about
treating it as journalism itself ?”
John Robinson, editor, News & Record, Greensboro, N.C.

6. Robinson usually posts to his blog once a day, every weekday.

8. “Every journalist group I’ve spoken with
about blogging has stopped short
when I say we don’t edit our staff blogs.
The editors are more concerned
about libel than about the proper use
of it’s and its. But editing is editing.
No good copy editor would stop
at editing only for typos and grammar.”
John Robinson, editor, News & Record, Greensboro, N.C.

9. Why staff blogs need not be edited
• Editing slows the process.
• Editing promotes uniformity and
conformity. [Hmm, bad for blogging.]
• Trust your staff. Journalists know what
libel is, what bad taste is.
• The cultures of the Web and the
newspaper are different.
John Robinson, editor, News & Record, Greensboro, N.C.

11. Gutierrez spends
about three hours a day, most days,
on her blog. That includes
writing, editing and
monitoring the comments.
It also takes time to research
all the links she includes.
Bridget Gutierrez is an education reporter and blogger
for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

13. “Sometimes it takes 15 minutes.
Sometimes, if I’m live-blogging,
it takes four hours.
Or four days.”
Jamie Gumbrecht is a lifestyle columnist and blogger
for The Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader

14. Community blogs
vs. (?)
journalist blogs

17. Issues we hear about often
• Comments can be nasty
• No editor! Shocking!
• Links to outside sites, and to outside blogs
• It’s just a column on a Web page
• I don’t have time to update it
• No one reads my blog

18. Important questions
• Are you reading other bloggers (outside
your newspaper)?
• Are you linking out?
• Are you reading the comments on your
blog?
• Are you responding to comments?
• What tone do you take in responses?

19. Important questions (2)
• Are there ads on your blog?
• Are you tracking the stats for your blog?
• What do the stats tell you?
• How often do you post?
• Do you understand SEO for blogs?
• Is your blog too ugly?

20. There are
245 journalist blogs
on The CyberJournalist List.
(Is yours there?)

21. Blogging for Journalism
Mindy McAdams
University of Florida
mindymcadams.com