Download issue (PDF) - Nieman Foundation - Harvard University

Kingdom respondents dominated, but
every continent (except Antarctica)
was represented. 1
As I pored over the results, I was
surprised at just how much these
journalists felt their work had been
changed by the simple act of blogging.
I had expected some effect on
their relationship with the “former
audience,” but what surprised me
most was when more than half of
the blogging journalists said this relationship
had been “enormously” or
“completely” transformed. At the same
time, when I might have anticipated
that some aspects of the journalistic
process to be affected, I found, instead,
consistency in responses I received.
This included in areas ranging from
how journalists generated story ideas
and leads to newsgathering and news
production and even what happens
after publication or broadcast. In each
instance, the majority of journalists
told stories of change.
So the headline is: Blogging is
changing journalism—at least for those
journalists who blog. But alongside
this conclusion resides a collection of
more interesting findings.
Cutting Out the Middlemen
In generating story ideas, blogging
journalists don’t need someone to tell
them who the readers are and what
they want: They already know, because
the readers are on their blogs, telling
them who they are and what they’re
curious about. In this new blogging
relationship, editors are the middlemen
being cut out.
The role of official sources—such
as public relations spokespeople and
firms—were also being diminished, as
sources for stories broadened. Story
leads now come through the comments
or through private communication
initiated via the blog. And once they
are pursuing a story, some journalists
use the blog to “put the call out” for
information and sources—and rely
on the transparency of their reporting
process to push official sources to
reply. One respondent wrote:
On hot-button stories where
our readers are asking a lot
of questions, we post updates
every time we make a phone
call. For example, [a company]
declared bankruptcy, and the
new owner wouldn’t take the
previous owner’s gift cards.
Our readers were peeved and
hounding us to do something.
The corporate folks weren’t saying
anything, so we didn’t have
any new information to report.
Because we didn’t have any new
info, we didn’t write anything
in the paper. But on our blog,
we would post updates at least
daily to tell people when we left
a message and if we had heard
back yet. We eventually scored
an interview with the new CEO
and posted it in its entirety on
our site. Another reporter saw it
1 More information about the findings of this online survey is available on the author’s
blog at http://onlinejournalismblog.com/2008/10/14/blogging-journalists-surveyresults-pt1-context-and-methodology/.
New Venues
and called us. We swapped info.
Our readers also post links to
other stories on the topic from
other news orgs.
In some examples, this collaboration
becomes a form of crowdsourcing.
But for others the pressure to publish
meant more reliance on rumors and
less rigorous research, with the onus
placed on blog readers to clarify and
fact check.
Swifter, Deeper, Stronger
In production, blogging journalists felt
they worked more quickly, breaking
stories on their blogs before following
up online and in print or broadcast.
They also write shorter, more tightly
edited pieces, not just for blogs but
also for print and broadcast. Reporters
said they write more informally than
before, while using the blog as a space
to publish material that didn’t “fit” the
formats of print and broadcast. And
journalists link to other stories when
Nieman Reports | Winter 2008 51