Miguel Guhlin Another Think Coming Challenge Claims, Uncover Reality

by mguhlin

Journalist Blogger

EdTech

I was intrigued by this comment by Danny Brown about the distinction between journalists and bloggers:

…a journalist’s job is to report facts - a blogger’s “job” is to offer a personal view of these facts, and hopefully open up conversation.

Two different approaches that probably cater to two different audiences.
Source: Comment made to the post linked below

I’m grateful to Doug Johnson (Blue Skunk Blog) for sending along this post about what bloggers can learn from journalists. However, the more I read and reflect on this entry, the more I realize that it is journalists who will need to learn from bloggers. Anita Bruzzese makes these points:

  1. It takes time to gain trust.
  2. You are what you write.
  3. Use attribution.
  4. Step away from the computer
  5. Look for the news peg.
  6. Be consistent
  7. Precision is key
  8. Just get on with it.
  9. Rewrite.
  10. Understand you’re creating history.

As powerful as these points are—especially when you read the convincing rationales that follow each—I’m not convinced. As a blogger, this list is boiled down to:

  • Share the truth and your perception of it—but distinguish between the two.
  • Be transparent about your motivations and expectations.
  • Share your learning like beads on a string
  • Use linktribution
  • Revise and publish that as a new blog entry or clearly labelled update.
  • Don’t wait for the opportune time to write, share more now.
  • What you write endures forever.

It’s not as polished a list as Anita’s and she’s probably laughing, but that’s all the time I’m going to spend on this. Perhaps, it’s better to consider Jeff Jarvis’ approach to a topic using the new tools.

Jeff Jarvis says it well when he suggests a different approach:

Instead, I want a page, a site, a thing that is created, curated, edited, and discussed. It’s a blog that treats a topic as an ongoing and cumulative process of learning, digging, correcting, asking, answering. It’s also a wiki that keeps a snapshot of the latest knowledge and background. It’s an aggregator that provides annotated links to experts, coverage, opinion, perspective, source material. It’s a discussion that doesn’t just blather but that tries to accomplish something (an extension of an article like this one that asks what options there are to bailout a bailout). It’s collaborative and distributed and open but organized.

Thoughts?

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