Journalism 2.0

In an earlier post I briefly discussed the idea of Web 2.0, the interactive Internet. Merits not withstanding, it is here for good. So how is a journalist to incorporate this participatory Internet to give their readers the most comprehensive experience possible?

I had the pleasure of being a part of a teleconference with Journalism 2.0 author Mark Briggs. A free PDF version of his book is available here.

Briggs wrote his book for the members of his newsroom, he said, but, "I'm glad it's getting more use than it was intended for." Briggs, a self-taught media guru who works as online editor of the Tacoma News Tribune, said the skills new journalists need should encompass many areas, and that it is not necessary to be really good at one thing. His book is meant to jump start any journalist's presence on the Web, so I tend to think of it as a "Dinosaur's Guide to the Internet." But that doesn't mean I'm not going to read it and use the skills it teaches.

A vocal advocate of blogs, Briggs has a blog that compliments the book. Briggs said all reporters should blog, and that many, although initially resistant, find that they can use their blog to organize their reporting for the print edition. Commenting on the natural flow of writing that appears in blogs, he said the News Tribune sometimes reverse publishes things that are written in blogs for the print edition because an author's voice is not distilled from the piece.

Briggs' enthusiasm for the possibilties of the Internet and connectivity were very apparent when he said, it's never been a better time to be a journalist if you're excited and willing to take advantage of the new tools now available.

To see a collection from the Pew Center of neat ways that newspapers and other Web sites have been using the Internet to connect to the community or tell stories in a entirely new way, click here.