Newspaper Blogs
Mar 22nd, 2007 at 9:30 am by PSoTD
Lots of newspapers now host blogs for their writers. For example, I tend to read John Micek’s Capitol Ideas daily to get the scoop on the writing by other Pennsylvania bloggers. (He’s from The Morning Call) I think he tends to incorporate the blogiverse pretty well on his blog.
We sometimes hammer the news media for their treatment of bloggers, but I’m looking for the reverse now: what newspapers seem to be ahead of the curve on blogs? What “newspaper blogs” do you read - those written by employee(s) and hosted by the newspaper?
Attytood
I find most newspaper blogs to be pretty lame. Attytood used to be good, but the commenters ruin it. Blinq? Blahh. Ferrick lasted all of 8 months, before he got into something new.
About the only blog-style newspaper column I read regularly is Dan Froomkin at the WaPo.
I think the weakness of newspaper blogs is that the papers that publish them see them as a disposable product, a passing fad to exploit until the craze passes. Because they’re not serious efforts (for most newspapers, IMO), they quality of the work suffers.
I always read Dan Froomkin as well. Sometimes I read Attytood, but usually the subject doesn’t interest me since I live in Kentucky.
I’ll respectfully disagree with Brendan.
While I can’t comment on my colleagues at other publications, I can say that The Morning Call is, and will continue to be, committed to maintaining a presence in the blog community.
I can also tell you that I take Capitol Ideas tremendously seriously, and I think that’s reflected in the quality and breadth of the content.
Meanwhile, I’ve never received anything but encouragement from management on Capitol Ideas, and plans are in the works to promote my ‘blog, and the new Pennsylvania Avenue ‘blog written by my colleague in Washington, Josh Drobnyk.
Cheers,
John Micek
The Allentown Morning Call
I can tell you that The Delaware County Daily Times’ Gil Spencer’s blog is Without a doubt the worst.
http://tinyurl.com/2la2yx
Froomkin is a must read and I usually check The Fix as well. I read Will Bunch for the attitude. The Lex Files at the Greensboro News and Record is written by an old friend.