A Presentation by Dane Martin

Basically, blogs that cover a variety of news stories.

While there are plenty that cover national and international news, many focus on specialized points of interest.

Stories are presented in relatively concise, brief posts followed by reader commentary.

Specialized Personal approach Shared interest Flexibility In some cases, independence

Flexibility Financing Advertising

Like most web news publications, they are operated on advertising dollars.

Unfortunately, the more independent sites rely almost on this revenue alone.

News blogs tied to major publications like the New York Times or the Washington Post can rely on funds from their parent company.

Depending on the nature of the news blog, you’ll either have direct reporting or…

A combination of reporting and posting about existing news stories.• Posts about a story found elsewhere is

accompanied with a link to the story• Commentary provided on other news stories• The blogs that aren’t tied to major publications are

also not bound to as strict a journalistic code as would the others.

Blogging is a much more casual than regular reporting.

Traditional newspapers both in print and online usually refrain from reporting rumors and save opinion for the Editorial column.

Traditional publications require a lot of resources in comparison…• Journalists need to do the research and footwork to

get the story.• the story has to go through multiple channels before

it can make it to print or be posted. News blogs are typically staffed by less than

a dozen individuals• The writers also double as editors. In short, they

write their piece and post it when they’re done. No need for approval from higher up.

• Specializing in one particular subject allows for more stories per day.

• Shorter length of stories also allows for quicker updates.

Many lack the income from an existing print publication

Not very recession-proof. First thing companies tend to cut is advertising budget.

Operating costs theoretically should be low.• Smaller staff, fewer paychecks to sign.

Its possible to run the websites from ones desk at home as well as an office.

A typical journalist is going to be preoccupied with writing new stories and meeting deadlines.

The blogger can take advantage of existing personal connections and news stories and has no looming deadlines for posts. Just get them up there as they come.

The more specialized the more effective.

News blogs seem to follow a very typical format.

There is no way that they will replace traditional journalism. They exist for a different purpose. They don’t write the stories most of the time, but gather news stories, discuss, post and sometimes break their own news all on a regular basis. They can bend the rules a bit. In a sense, it’s second hand journalism. Some may want to even point out that blogging is NOT journalism, but all definitions are relative to an extent. There is reporting involved, just manner in which it is executed is very different. The times are changing, and journalism constantly evolves. Many scoffed and New Journalism when it cam into existence. Thomas Wolfe, Hunter S. Thompson, etc. They bent and broke the rules themselves, but are still recognized as journalists. The same could be said about today’s bloggers.

http://gizmodo.com/ http://www.nytimes.com/ref/

topnews/blog-index.html http://www.topix.com/news/blogs http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/

blogs http://blogs.reuters.com/us/ http://www.npr.org/blogs/news/