Print publications revolutionize online news content with blogs
1/21/2010
By Michael Nadler
More than ever, newspapers are focusing efforts online to expand their reach and maintain their position as a predominant force in the news industry. The New York Times cemented its reputation as an industry leader by recently announcing it will charge visitors to its Web site in 2011. Charging online visitors signifies a shift in priorities for The Times and its competitors are likely to follow suit.
Over the past decade, the newspaper industry has changed its ways of pushing content and offering readers something distinct. While podcasts, videos and other multimedia are important, blogs are still the best way to adjust to online demands while attracting readers.
According to Thad McIlroy, a veteran journalist, publishing industry blogger and president of The Future of Publishing, blog networks give an outlet “the opportunity to make their Web site a true extension of the print publication.” He pointed out, though, that these networks don’t merely serve as a source of additional content provided to its readers, they also create a sense of community between the publication, the journalist and its readers, forming a “genuine connection” that never existed previously.
“The community impetus was really what pushed [print publications] toward blogging.” McIlroy said. What once appeared in a Letters to the Editor section in a newspaper, is now being published directly to a blog post, enabling a public discussion to develop between journalist and reader.
Brian Cubbision, a blogger for The Future of News Blog and Web site editor at The Post-Standard agreed with McIlroy and said “blogs allow space for news of special interest” and serve as an additional platform where a publication can “present vast amounts of data” to its readers.
Not only do journalists now have the opportunity to have a more “distinct voice,” McIlroy said, but the content is written in a “refreshing format” that is more appealing to readers. He continued, “I often turn to blogs before I’ll turn to any of the news in the newspaper because I know I’m going to get more from them than from their news reporting,” and argued that “news coverage is dropping but the blogging is getting more interesting.”
McIlroy said one advantage print publications have, especially newspapers, is “they still have more feet on the ground than any other [media type].” He continued, “They remain uniquely positioned to give a perspective that’s virtually impossible to find anywhere else.”
It’s when that advantage is used to its fullest potential, that the publication and its readers can really see the effectiveness of their blog network. The print edition of a publication doesn’t always provide the opportunity for journalists to cover super localized issues, events, people or offer different points of views. A blog network creates an avenue for this unique coverage.
Tom Pellegrene, Web site editor for The Journal Gazette, which boasts about two dozen blogs on its site, said, “The blogs pick up items considered ‘too small’ or unimportant to make our print editions.” He said one of the goals was to “reach niche audiences that might or might not be regular readers of our news content in print or online.” He encourages bloggers to post daily and said blogging “means not having to wait until 6 a.m., the next day to tell people something you know.”
Cubbison explained, “Blogs can provide good reporting that’s responsive to the public and their sudden interest in a topic.” One downside, he points out, is that blogs “tend to be less strictly edited, which is uncomfortable for many editors.” That’s not to say content provided on a blog network should be taken less seriously than print content; but because of the nature of blogging and the ability it gives journalists to quickly post stories and scoop competitors, blog posts might be pushed quicker through the editing process compared to a story that is slated to appear on the front page of tomorrow’s paper.
Pellegrene pointed out that this is not always the case and explained, “We edit our blogs because we want to maintain the same accuracy and ethical standards we seek to maintain in our print and online products.”
Additionally, publications don’t necessarily have to create an “internal voice” through blogs, McIlroy said. “There are a lot of external voices out there that would be thrilled to ally with [publications] as long as they can retain some degree of independence.” One outlet doing just that is The Atlantic. McIlroy said the magazine “set out very deliberately to create a business relationship with some very prominent bloggers and have them merge their brands into the brand of The Atlantic."
But providing content through a blog network is a huge shift in thinking for most print publications.
“I feel the news industry is still in the midst of its embrace of such efforts,” McIlroy said.” We’ve seen more action in the last six months than we saw in the last six years. It’s great to see them really starting to think, ‘Okay, what do we have that’s unique and how can we position that apart from the competition?’”
Though it is still unclear what is in store for print publications one thing is clear according to McIlroy: “There is going to be more read online in the future than there is today.”
Cubbison added that one of the next challenges facing these outlets is their efforts to incorporate mobile content. Whatever the future may hold for print publications, it seems that they will remain a predominant voice throughout the news industry.
Making the Pitch
“I’m being better pitched than I ever had been before because it seems PR professionals are receiving accurate and sufficiently in depth information about what my real interests are,” McIlroy noted. He added that it’s “up to the PR professional to be a professional and take the time to use the resources out there to make sure the pitch is relevant.”
Cubbison advised PR professionals to “know what the publication covers, since many newspapers are concentrating on local news and likely won’t follow up on national or international items that aren’t directly related to the local area.” He added, “Know who the assignment editors are, and who the writers are who is open to story ideas. It often helps to provide images or videos, since bloggers especially would like to have more images to work with.”
Pellegrene encouraged PR professionals to send pitches to their blogs, but added, “Usually the pitch is to the reporter, who may choose to put material on the blog instead of, or in addition to, the print newspaper or online.” To PR professionals, he emphasized that they are “welcome to pitch anything you'd like as long as you understand that sometimes you'll get our attention and sometimes you won't.” One of his pet peeves is when, “PR professionals don't know how many newspapers are in my town, which one is morning and which one is evening, and when the people they need to reach are most available to them.”
Contact Information
The Future of Publishing
www.thefutureofpublishing.com
(877)367-4004
Thad McIlroy Blog
www.thefutureofpublishing.com/blog
Thad McIlroy, president and blogger
thad@thefutureofpublishing.com
(260)461-8377
The Post-Standard
101 N Salina St
Syracuse, NY 13202
(315)470-0011
www.syracuse.com
Brian Cubbision, Web site editor
bcubbison@syracuse.com
(315)470-2139
The Future News Blog
blog.syracuse.com/future-news
Brian Cubbison, blogger
bcubbison@syracuse.com
(315)470-2139
The Journal Gazette
600 W Main St
Fort Wayne, IN 46802
(260)461-8773
www.journalgazette.net
Tom Pellegrene, web site editor
tpellegrene@jg.net
(260)461-8377