Sara Neufeld | BeatBlogging.Org

Posts Tagged ‘Sara Neufeld’

Podcast: Beatblogging is a more honest form of journalism, says Neufeld

Wednesday, May 20, 2009 19:41 - by Patrick Thornton

Another top beatblogging, Sara Neufeld, is signing off, but before she officially left The Baltimore Sun, she stopped by to chat about the lessons she learned from blogging the Baltimore School District.

On her blog, InsideEd, she explained how she went from a skeptic to a believer in her two years on the blog:

When I found out two years ago that The Sun would be starting an education blog, I complained that it would take up too much time. I was right that it is a huge time investment, but I had no idea how much fun or rewarding it would be. Suddenly, teachers and administrators who never would have let me quote them by name in the newspaper were speaking out about the challenges they face every day, sparking some of the most engaging and meaningful dialogue in which I’ve ever been a part. We’ve often talked about how the best professional development comes from teachers sharing ideas. Similarly, I believe that some of the best solutions to the problems facing our schools can come from thoughtful conversation among stakeholders like you.

Neufeld recently volunteered to be let go from the Sun in order to save a colleague’s job. Many of Neufeld’s coworkers had families, mortgages and other commitments that would make it harder for them to lose a job than for Neufeld. Plus, Neufeld has new media skills that others do not, which should make it easier for her to find a new job.

The Sun had become a depressing place to work lately, according to Neufeld. All these factors combined to lead Neufeld to ask to be one of the employees laid off. She hopes to find another journalism job and get back into beatblogging, but this is a bleak time for journalism.

The cuts at the Sun have yielded more than just a reduction in force. The staff cuts have also changed how blogs are edited. Now, there is no formal editing process for blogs.

While this may seem normal for lighter blogs, it became a concern for writers like Neufeld who covered serious beats. For non-breaking news posts, many of the Sun’s bloggers liked having the option of an editor reading over posts first to check for accuracy, grammar and style.

InsideEd bloggers — there are three left now that Neufeld has left the Sun — have been trying an informal system where they edit each other’s posts upon request. InsideEd has always been a group blog, and this may be the best way for those bloggers to get their work edited.

Neufeld said InsideEd allowed for a most honest form of journalism because more people participated in discussions, more voices were heard and people were not afraid to speak out. Many teachers and administrators are afraid to speak out on the record, but were willing to share their stories on the blog.

“Absolutely more honest in that people can speak more freely,” she said. “A lot of stuff gets out because we have the blog.”

InsideEd, however, covered more than just the Baltimore School District. The blog covered several districts with several bloggers, but Neufeld found that content for the Baltimore district was more popular than content for surrounding districts.

She believed this was partly because readers of Baltimore education news don’t care about suburban schools and vice versa. Splitting up the InsideEd blog into multiple blogs for each school district may have yielded better results for non-Baltimore schools.

“I do think it is different audiences,” she said about the different districts.

The other main issue Neufeld noticed on InsideEd was that the suburban writers were unable to dedicate as much time to content for InsideEd. Neufeld found, like many beatblogs, that frequent content is one of the keys to success. Occasional stories about suburban school districts didn’t garner the same amount of pageviews or comments as stories about the Baltimore district.

“I don’t think you can develop a strong following unless you are posting a lot,” she said about developing a popular beatblog.

Neufeld found the blog to be a tremendous source builder, and expanding one’s network of sources is a key to beatblogging.

“My regular commeters became great tipsters for me,” she said. “I’ve developed eyes and ears for me all over the city. In addition to posting comments on the blog, many of them e-mail me all the time about things that happen in their school.”

By the end, Neufeld’s work flow looked like this: If a story broke, she would first break it on Twitter, then write a blog post and then write a print story. It’s hard to believe that just two years ago only the last part of that work flow was true. Today people expect a lot more than just print stories.

Last week The Wall Street Journal released a new social media policy, and it caused a bit of stir because many — including this blog — found the policy to be counterproductive and puzzling. Neufeld has been active on Twitter and social media (for work and personal), and Tribune as a whole has been rather forward thinking with social media. Colonel Tribune personifies their social media ethos.

“I think it’s pretty much use common sense,” Neufeld said about the Sun’s social media policy.

Click here to stream the interview. Or download the MP3.

BCNI Philly: Why beatblog? (and why news should be social)

Saturday, April 25, 2009 8:42 - by Patrick Thornton

Below you’ll find a post I created to go with a beatblogging presentation at BCNI Philly.

It’s a quick start guide on what beatblogging is, how to do it and best practices.

What is beatblogging?

Beatblogging is the practice of using social media, blogs and other Web tools for beat reporting.

To be a beatblogger, a journalist must engage in two-way communication. This mean interacting with people on Twitter, in the comments after blog posts and stories, through Facebook and other social networks, by conducting live chats and liveblogs, etc.

It’s important to point out that just because a journalist has a beat and a blog doesn’t make them a beatblogger. That just makes them a beat reporter with a blog. Two-way communication and user interaction are the cornerstones to beatblogging. Conversely, a beat reporter does not need a blog to be a beatblogger.

Two-way communication and interaction can happen on social networks and or during a liveblog, for instance. The key to beatblogging is not, nor will it ever be, about having a blog, but rather it is all about user interaction. We like to call beatblogging Rolodex 2.0, because it’s a way to expand the number of sources a beat reporter has.

In an earlier post Jay Rosen defined a beatblog as:

A beatblog in the expansive sense is any blog that sticks to a well-defined beat or coverage area, whether it is the work of a single person or a team, whether it is authored by a pro or an amateur journalist. A beatblog can be part of a large site, or it could stand on its own. Normally, the beat is explicit and obvious from the home page of the blog, but it is possible for a beat blog to have an “implicit” or unusual beat that isn’t immediately apparent to a casual user.

Content-wise, a beatblog presents a regular flow of reporting and commentary in a focused area the beat covers; it provides links and online resources in that area, and it tracks the subject over time. Beats can be topical (like dot.earth, which is about natural resources and the environment) or narrowly geographic (West Seattle blog) or both (Atlantic Yards Report) or activity-related (Family Life, which is about “raising a family.”)

Why beatblog?

More sources — Beatblogging allows journalists to find more sources. This means better and easier reporting. Good beatblogging can allow a journalist to cover a beat easier and more in-depth. Many of these new sources will contact beatbloggers with info, documents and links. In today’s era of limited resources and cutbacks, beatblogging is a powerful way to get more out of less.
Crowdsourcing — Beatblogging can be an excellent way to crowdsource stories and have readers help report. These days, reporters could use all the help they can get, and why not harness the wisdom of our users? Some beatbloggers even ask their readers to be their assignment editors.
Conversation — Social media is really about having a conversation. Beatblogging can be a great way to get people talking, and this can become a big part of your product. Alexander Russo’s District 299 blog is all about “hosting” the conversation. His blog is designed to be a place for people to discuss Chicago education news and policy, and people come to the blog largely for the conversation. Yes, he has good editorial content too, but the conversations are a big part of what makes his blog special.
Users add value – People add value to beatblogs. They help reporters report, they leave links and comments after posts, they share their own experiences — they become a reason to come to the site.
More traffic – Good beatbloggers will generate more traffic for their content, because their content will have more around it. A blog that has a strong community built around it with lots of thoughtful comments will get much more traffic because people will be checking back several times a day to see the new comments. People will come to a blog just for the conversation, because comments add value.

Here are what some beatbloggers had to say about beatblogging via Twitter:

chronsciguy – It’s fun. It’s immediate. It makes me a much, much better reporter.

mneznanski Why I beatblog? Because it’s more fun than just writing for a newspaper. Because I know what people are reading. Because I do better, more informed journalism with it than without it.

saraneufeld It’s great source-building and an opportunity to tell stories I can’t in the newspaper. Plus, it’s fun.

Top notch beatbloggers

Eric Berger — You can’t get much better than a Pulitzer Prize finalist, which Berger was this year because of his stellar beatblogging efforts related to his coverage of Hurricane Ike. This coverage from Berger included live, daily chats about the oncoming storm, continuous updates and coverage on Berger’s SciGuy blog and reports on Chron.com.
Kent Fischer — Fischer (now out of journalism) was one of the best at using his beatblog to help him report and discover new stories. His beatblog helped him uncover an A1 (and later national in the WSJ) story. His readers routinely fed him stories, documents, etc. Beatblogging simply allowed him to be a better reporter. Listen to why Fischer thought beatblogging was such a useful tool for him as a reporter.
Monica Guzman — Guzman is the master conversation starter and community cultivator. If you’re looking for ways to build a community around your beat, you can’t find much better than Guzman. Unlike the other beatbloggers listed here, Guzman’s main job is to start conversations with readers.
Brian Krebs — Krebs is an excellent example of what can happen once a community is cultivated. Many of his readers are quite knowledgeable about computer security and really add to the conversation. In fact, blog posts often pick up once the comments start rolling in. Krebs’s users have added a tremendous amount of value to his blog. Krebs discusses the power of a strong user community in this Q&A.

Best practices

Cultivating a community — The best way to cultivate a community is to be A) active in your community by responding to comments and B) taking an active role in comment moderation. It takes work to cultivate a community, but it provides rewards. Berger discusses how to build a community in this podcast.
Hoisting comments – Once a community is cultivated, a beatblogger will want to start acknowledging when people leave strong comments. Many beatbloggrs have begun hoisting comments with weekly “comment of the week” features. It’s a good way to pat readers on the back. Better yet, check out Jon Ortiz’s “blog back” concept. It’s similar to hoisting comments but more in-depth.
Crowdsourcing — A good beatblog has a large network of sources around it. Many of these sources are experts in in certain fields and topics. Why not ask them for help? The Buzz Out Loud crew discussed how their users know more than they do in this podcast. BOL’s listeners are a big part of the show because they are so knowledgeable, they help report and they provide in-depth knowledge that the hosts often don’t have.
Be accessible — Make it easy for people to contact you on your blog, Twitter, etc. Good beatbloggers are transparent. People want to interact, so it make it easy for them. Guzman even has weekly in-person office hours and meetups.
Learn by example — Don’t be afraid to borrow someone else’s good idea. Each week we profile innovative beatbloggers and best practices. If you see something you like, start doing it yourself.