Before I go much further I want to thank my friend Mark Mason of Masonworld.com for getting me started. Mark blogs about the ins and outs of making money on the Internet. He knows the tools, the search engine processes, the other experts online, and tricks it would take a novice like me months to figure out on my own. Thanks, Mark.
So I still have a lot of work to do on the site. Some color is needed, I think. A little pizazz. Some content might help, too.
A few months ago a friend of mine – a fellow reporter from way back – was finally offered a voluntary separation package from the newspaper where he worked close to 20 years. Many of the people I knew in the news business have either been laid off, took a voluntary release, or quit for a new career. That was my story. I left the paper to make a better living in corporate America. I have no regrets. I only wish I knew then what I know now.
When my friend took the severance package it finally dawned on me that daily newspapers are dying out. It wasn’t just that good reporters are leaving for greener pastures, it’s a question of how they can maintain a model that relies on a kid tossing papers out of a car at 6 a.m. The problem’s not with the kid tossing papers, but that he’s doing it in his mom’s SUV which was sucking down $3.90 a gallon gas this past summer. It just can’t continue.
One model of what I think is coming could be a subscriber service offering a variety of news sources. It might have a few providers of financial, international, and sports news, plus local news providers feeding into the service. There’s no telling, though, what the print media will end up with. My perception is that many of the big print houses are not too savvy about online media. It’s pretty clear that they haven’t figured it out yet.
The other channel to traditional news sources is, of course, the blogosphere.
So what separates the two? Professionalism.
Your professional U.S. journalist has years of training, on the job experience, and a staff of editors, managers, and lawyers. Bloggers have themselves and a community to help steer the ship in the right direction.
What most reporters know and a few bloggers have figured out, is that there is a burden of responsibility in their reporting. On one hand, you can say what you want, but you have to be prepared to face the consequences. That could mean legal action for libel or slander, it could mean a damaged reputation for perpetuating a hoax. On the other hand most reporters also know that they have a responsibility to their readers. That responsibility includes providing news that is accurate, timely, informative, and readable.
In the next few weeks I hope to have a few news reporting and business writing pointers, to help you create posts that are more professional in content and structure.
What do you want to see?
Richard;
Glad to see you blogging! This is a great first post. Keep up the good work.
Looking forward to your work here.
Regards,
Mark
Hi Richard,
Congratulations on your new blog! I love the name you gave it.
Regarding the degradation of newspapers, in addition to your reasons, I also think it’s that they have such poor ethics that people have just gotten tired of it all. Some of the articles I read (both online and off) wouldn’t get a passing grade from any of my journalism teachers. It has been more about creating controversy and pushing their own narrow-minded agendas that has contributed to their downfall.
As for them not getting the online stuff, I think there is some truth to that as well. I’ve seen an improvement over the years like the NY Times figuring out that they shouldn’t bug people to login just to view an article a few years back — at least the few times I’ve been there they haven’t. Hehe, now they couldn’t pay people to read them!
Good luck with Inkhammer!
Look forward to more posts on the future of paper journalism vs blog.
Welcome To Blogging Richard!
Wonderful to have someone with your experience offline ready to bring new insights to the online blogging world.
I look forward to reading more =)
Regards,
==Brie==
Hey Richard, what a cool subject!!
I have been hearing a lot about blogging and journalism recently and many news stations are getting flak for using blogs as their sources.
Thanks,
Forest.
Great looking blog and very interested first post. You have a smart guy teaching you the ropes of blogging. Keep up the good work!
Great post, hope to learn more about the business of writing from you.
I’d love to have a one spot stop for finding relevant, accurate and up to date news from the whole world. Right now, I check the online newspaper for my own city, and that’s about it. Would I pay for it? Not sure, if it was competitive with a subscription to a newspaper or similar magazine, I probably would.
Good luck with your blogging, I like your first post.
[...] started a new blog, and his first post is up. Check it out! InkHammer.com Stumbles appreciated. http://inkhammer.com/?p=10 [...]
Thanks, Audrey.
I think it’s going to come to a subscriber system. We’ll see if the hometown papers can keep up. My experience in newspapers is that they don’t get it – but maybe they’ll catch on.
Richard
Richard,
It is always great to see someone get started in the blogging world.
Great start. Keep up the great work.
Phil
Thanks, Joe!
Thanks, Mark. I appreciate the comments.
You also have a valid concern about ethics. One the one hand, I think most reporters in the field are honestly and ethically trying to do a good job of bringing us the news. On the other hand it is a very competitive business. There are a few bad apples out there who get a lot of attention. Also, the editors and the publishers are in the business to make money for their owners and shareholders. Most of the reporters I knew in the business loved their jobs. But it is a tough job, it doesn’t pay well – unless you are a star, and there are very few stars – and if you don’t like the way the bosses are running it, it’s just fine by them if you hit the road because there’s 100s of other kids with J-school degrees beating down the door and ready to go to work. That leads us to an experience gap, which in turn circles back to your original point about ethics. If your old hands are gone, who will teach the new kids how to behave and act when they are gathering the news.
Thanks again for the comments and I apologize for the delay in my reply. If you read my post from Tuesday you’ll see why.
Richard
Thanks, Mike.
Hopefully, I’ll get the hang of this sooner rather than later.
Thanks, Brie.
I’m looking forward to it, too.
Richard
Thanks, Forest.
It looks to me that blogging as a news vehicle is here to stay. As more and more “indie” reporters begin covering their local news scene, I think there will be more call to have some kind of standardization or code of ethics to help people make good decisions about what they are writing about.
Thanks again,
Richard
Thanks, Josh.
Mark seems to know his business and I’m way behind on his tutorial. Lots to keep up with.
Thanks again for the encouragement.
Richard
Thanks, Joe. I appreciate the encouragement. I’ll try to keep the posts coming with good stuff.
Richard
Thanks, Audrey.
I imagine that the one-stop shop is on it’s way. The technology continues to morph and drive new delivery methods. As we move into the 3G and 3.5G mobile media devices a new world is going to open up for people interested in delivering local content about subjects they care about. That will be good news for people like us looking for cool content that we care about, too.
Richard
Thanks, Man!