Responses
Stephen, 8/5/2005, 5:47:55 AM
As long as the blog is held to the same editorial standards as the print edition, I do not see a problem with it. There is, however, a tendency to shoot off at the mouth in the "no-holds-barred" nature of the Internet.
Go for it. If nothing else, it would provide a bit more life to the rather dull student newspaper Web sites I see everyday. The Editor should be held accountable for anything that makes it on to the Web through the blog. Furthermore, my experience has taught me that it is always best for staff members to stay out of any discussion that might be sparked from a blog posting. Thick skins are a must.
Pamela E. Foster, 8/26/2005, 10:34:41 AM
By definition, a blog is not held to the same editorial standards as the print edition of a newspaper; a blog is for everybody, not merely the journalistically annointed. If newspaper students attempt to clean up people's words and sentiments to meet the newspaper's editorial standards, those students rather than the authors become liable for the content. Check the splc's document called Legal Issues for Online Operations and one called Section 230: Another good reason for no school censorship, in which law professor Ray August advises public schools "to establish a policy of not screening materials posted by faculty, staff, or students."
Michelle, The Oswegonian, 8/30/2005, 9:01:12 PM
I've been thinking of putting together a blog for our publication too, but I realize that with so little that happens aroud here, I would not want the blog to beat our own newspaper on a story. I think it depends on who writes it. If you give it to a columnist or keep it like an unsigned staff editorial kind of thing (if it's op-ed based) then you're set. If you do the whole opinion thing, with staff writers and bylines, it could hurt your credibility.
Check out the Politicker, a blog that is owned by the New York Observer. http://www.observer.com/thepoliticker/ A friend of mine is one of the bloggers and he was also my boss at my internship this summer. I think they're pretty neat.
Daniel Ross-Jones, 8/31/2005, 4:49:49 PM
Our entire site is a blog, per se, since we're based on blogging software. But for staffers to hold their own blogs on the site...in our situation, I'd shy away from it. We're a small campus with a small paper, and the campus itself provides its own blogging Web site for students. Having blogs on the newspaper site itself would open ourselves up for credibility issues and oversaturate the market.
Daniel Ross-Jones
The Current
http://current.carthage.edu/
km, 9/1/2005, 9:45:43 PM
To see a professional paper with a blog link done by a former editor, go to www.greatfallstribune.com
click on local news on the lefthand side and then click on 'outtherewithtom" in the upper right.
This 'blog' is basically an online column.
It's great and shows hiking and outdoor opportunities in the area.
Marie, 9/7/2005, 5:25:34 PM
Have you tried a blog specifically designed to generate story ideas? Allow people to write whatever they feel, edit the material for content, of course, and use it to benifit both the newspaper and readership numbers.
