On becoming a blogger

For every story I do, I use the Internet in some fashion. The Internet is crammed with information I need to quickly and effectively do my job. It is hard to imagine a world, not so distant, in which reporting was without this invaluable tool. The Internet is home to databases of every sort, contact and directory information and analysis of every topic known.

So it is only right that newspapers provide their services through this medium, and use it to enhance their commitment to public service. Blogs are an excellent way to accelerate that, as more newspapers realize that community journalism is about more than telling stories, it’s about having a conversation.

On the Oregon Daily Emerald site, there is space for blogging. One of the most exciting ideas is to write about things that have happened that can’t make it into traditional news stories or have to be scaled down because of space limitations. An example of this would be the journalist’s experience while researching a story. Recently, Mike O’Brien of the Emerald wrote a story about a training studio for cage fighting in Springfield. While there, he donned the protective padding and took a kick from an Ultimate Fighting Championship participant. He, as the observer, is not allowed by journalistic conventions to put his experience into the story because the story is not about him, but the experience is still worth sharing. Normally this would be carried out in casual conversations with people he knows (like me), but in the realm of the blog, he can share with the reader how it felt to be kicked by the owner of the studio. See the blog here.

I think the thing that most often inhibits me from making regular blog posts is time. Thoughts and information take time to gather, and in a world where I am working, studying and maintaining relationships, time for reflection suffers.

But, I have to join this world of communication because that is what drives my livelihood, not blogging per se, but communication, my field of supposed expertise. And as all journalists are being forced to admit, the world is driving us to utilize the Internet everyday.