Comments on: Leaderboard for week of 1-19-09: Users adding value http://beatblogging.org/2009/01/21/leaderboard-for-1-19-08-users-adding-value/ Pushing the practice of beat reporting Fri, 01 Jan 2010 16:26:06 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc hourly 1 By: Matt Neznanski http://beatblogging.org/2009/01/21/leaderboard-for-1-19-08-users-adding-value/comment-page-1/#comment-2964 Matt Neznanski Mon, 26 Jan 2009 06:08:26 +0000 http://beatblogging.org/?p=1645#comment-2964 Emily, I'm with Kent. The speed of reporting on a blog just doesn't fit the edit-first model for news. I'd say if you maintain regular conversation with reporters, you know the kind of stuff they'll be breaking on the blog. And you should encourage that. Trust me, when you get real discussion on the blog and start breaking some stories, it's a ton of fun. I'm going to guess that the biggest hurdle you'll face is teaching reporters that a blog isn't just a glorified diary. Emily, I’m with Kent. The speed of reporting on a blog just doesn’t fit the edit-first model for news. I’d say if you maintain regular conversation with reporters, you know the kind of stuff they’ll be breaking on the blog. And you should encourage that.
Trust me, when you get real discussion on the blog and start breaking some stories, it’s a ton of fun.
I’m going to guess that the biggest hurdle you’ll face is teaching reporters that a blog isn’t just a glorified diary.

]]> By: Kent Fischer http://beatblogging.org/2009/01/21/leaderboard-for-1-19-08-users-adding-value/comment-page-1/#comment-2934 Kent Fischer Thu, 22 Jan 2009 17:58:42 +0000 http://beatblogging.org/?p=1645#comment-2934 Emily, If you were to dust my blog for fingerprints, you won't find any belonging to editors. Our blog is 100-percent reporter driven. I report. I post. My editor sees it when my readers do. And that suits me fine. The power of blogs is in the immediacy and the give and take between blogger and readers. Editors, it seems to me (frankly), would would just muck that up. I can't imagine writing a post and then waiting and waiting and waiting for an editor to approve it. Emily,

If you were to dust my blog for fingerprints, you won’t find any belonging to editors. Our blog is 100-percent reporter driven. I report. I post. My editor sees it when my readers do. And that suits me fine.

The power of blogs is in the immediacy and the give and take between blogger and readers. Editors, it seems to me (frankly), would would just muck that up. I can’t imagine writing a post and then waiting and waiting and waiting for an editor to approve it.

]]> By: Kent Fischer http://beatblogging.org/2009/01/21/leaderboard-for-1-19-08-users-adding-value/comment-page-1/#comment-2925 Kent Fischer Thu, 22 Jan 2009 04:00:56 +0000 http://beatblogging.org/?p=1645#comment-2925 A caveat to anyone thinking of co-opting the Comment of the Week idea: it ain't easy. I started handing out COWs on Mondays, figuring it'd be an easy breezy way to get a quickie post up first thing Monday morn. And when our blog was receiving 50 comments a week, it was. But now that we've built a bit of a following, we're getting +250 comments weekly, and that's a lot to sift through. So the COW has become a bit of a weekly albatross, actually. That's not to say that I wouldn't recommend doing it -- I would and do. But you can't half-ass it. You have to read all the comments and put some thought into picking a winner. Because when you phone it in (which I did a coupla times) the readers notice. And they LIKE the COW -- when it's not there, they notice and when you phone it in, they notice. A caveat to anyone thinking of co-opting the Comment of the Week idea: it ain’t easy.

I started handing out COWs on Mondays, figuring it’d be an easy breezy way to get a quickie post up first thing Monday morn. And when our blog was receiving 50 comments a week, it was. But now that we’ve built a bit of a following, we’re getting +250 comments weekly, and that’s a lot to sift through.

So the COW has become a bit of a weekly albatross, actually. That’s not to say that I wouldn’t recommend doing it — I would and do. But you can’t half-ass it. You have to read all the comments and put some thought into picking a winner. Because when you phone it in (which I did a coupla times) the readers notice. And they LIKE the COW — when it’s not there, they notice and when you phone it in, they notice.

]]> By: Emily Behlmann http://beatblogging.org/2009/01/21/leaderboard-for-1-19-08-users-adding-value/comment-page-1/#comment-2921 Emily Behlmann Thu, 22 Jan 2009 02:16:18 +0000 http://beatblogging.org/?p=1645#comment-2921 I'm probably not posting this in the appropriate place, but I'm in need of advice from beat bloggers. I'm the Web editor (a new position) at a small daily in Kansas trying to get some staff blogs going. My editors have reservations about the whole thing, especially if there's no editor reading posts before they go live. My thought is that we hired these folks to be professional journalists, to report thoroughly, to proof and to spell check, and that they would carry that through to their blogs. And I think seeking prior approval would bog down the process and take away from the immediacy of blogging. Plus, I'd receive all our reporters' blogs in my RSS reader and would review them daily, though not necessarily before they're posted. I'd also be available for discussion with any reporter who was unsure about whether to blog about a particular topic or make a certain statement. My question is: Do your papers require editor approval before posts go on the Web? Why or why not? I’m probably not posting this in the appropriate place, but I’m in need of advice from beat bloggers. I’m the Web editor (a new position) at a small daily in Kansas trying to get some staff blogs going. My editors have reservations about the whole thing, especially if there’s no editor reading posts before they go live. My thought is that we hired these folks to be professional journalists, to report thoroughly, to proof and to spell check, and that they would carry that through to their blogs. And I think seeking prior approval would bog down the process and take away from the immediacy of blogging. Plus, I’d receive all our reporters’ blogs in my RSS reader and would review them daily, though not necessarily before they’re posted. I’d also be available for discussion with any reporter who was unsure about whether to blog about a particular topic or make a certain statement.

My question is: Do your papers require editor approval before posts go on the Web? Why or why not?

]]> By: Matt Neznanski http://beatblogging.org/2009/01/21/leaderboard-for-1-19-08-users-adding-value/comment-page-1/#comment-2919 Matt Neznanski Wed, 21 Jan 2009 23:34:51 +0000 http://beatblogging.org/?p=1645#comment-2919 Cool, thanks. Yeah, CoveritLive is great: easy to use, flexible and quick to set up. I'm still working on building hype around the liveblogs, but I'm also picking some medium-interest topics so I know how to use the tech when (if) it hits the fan. Cool, thanks.
Yeah, CoveritLive is great: easy to use, flexible and quick to set up. I’m still working on building hype around the liveblogs, but I’m also picking some medium-interest topics so I know how to use the tech when (if) it hits the fan.

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