It seems that most newspapers are starting blogs, usually written by staffers or people in the community about particular subjects. My hometown paper, the Express News, has over 50 blogs listed on its site.
Even closer to home, just the other day my best friend from college, who is now a copy editor at the Nashville Tennessean, let me know that she was writing a mommy blog for her local paper.
A reader alerted me to an article today in the American Journalism Review that includes 10 tips for blogging from Dallas Morning News Editorial Page Editor Keven Ann Willey, who launched the nation's first editorial page blog, the Dallas Morning Views.
I found the tips interesting, as I found the story about how teh blog was started and the overall barriers to get it up-and-running.
10 Tips for Blogging
1. Be brief and informal. Breezy, conversational tone is good. Two hundred words is too long. Go for the quick hit, light touch, witty aside. Attitude required.
2. Don't be too proud to blog.
3. Respond to previous blog postings. This is about conversation, after all. It's the back and forth that makes a blog engaging.
4. Vary your topics. Don't be a wonk.
5. Don't write anything you wouldn't want your mother to read in the paper.
6. Use hyperlinks.
7. Incorporate interesting, provocative reader e-mail. The best blogs are two-way streets.
8. Be quick to correct yourself.
9. Don't feel obligated to answer all blog-generated e-mail.
10. Don't over edit; but designate a blog boss.
I like these tips, and I might add, turn on your comments and moderate them, but overall this is a great effort by the newspaper to demystify the editorial board staff. The article goes through the many legal considerations faced by mainstream media and why in many cases blogging has not come naturally.
What do you think about this trend of journalists blogging, and what tips would you add?
