South by Southwest: This and That About Journalism & Blogging

Sunday, September 10, 2006

This and That About Journalism & Blogging

Good bloggers try to take the masks off . We may want to avoid the standard journalistic approach of "presenting both sides," even when one side has the majority of facts on its side. Or a blogger may want to infuse the piece with passion, rather than being completely dispassionate. Most bloggers certainly want to be very interesting to their readers; few have the luxury of MSM's captive markets. And most of all, bloggers hate propaganda. We usually say what we mean, straight out, even if it is respectful in tone.

Blogging is not necessarily confidence building. saysa's space asks, "So what's in a blog?" This writer really takes off the mask, showing some vulnerability. If all of us were honest, our posts might reflect similar thoughts. It is hosted at Microsoft's Live Spaces, which I had not seen before.

Blogging for marketing purposes may still feature masks, however. Check out this interesting one, "TKM - Ernst & Young Big Business Idea Competition - The Top Business Plan Competition. 10 September 2006. Bluffer's Guide to Blogging," written by a blogger from Oman.

Here, is a conservative (I assume) blogger whose mask eye holes are fogged: "Common Sense" at dhoglund.townhall.com asks today, "What happened to truth and accuracy?" The post gives examples of the author's definition of lack of correctness in journalism. I scanned the post. Then I chuckled, after reading the title of a previous post: "Pathetic liberal sissies." Fraught with assumptions, huh? Blogging blind spots so much depend on from which side of the political river you come.

Re-examine my masks from previous posts/archives: Visitors to my blog often come there to read a post from the archives. This, I assume, is via a key word search that listed a tag of interest. Here are previous posts you may want to scan. I include a quote from each.

Blog on Blogging - 7/31/05

I have returned to keeping up with the current events that interest me, I find that I have many thoughts and much to write about. And as I write, my strong feelings diminish, my frustration level goes down, and I am able to regain my perspective. It's a good thing, as Martha Stewart would say.

Photojournalism 101: 1 picture = 1000 words - 7/30/06

(Blog) Photos . . . are etched in thousands of minds because they are often the realities of a news day. Modern newspapers depend heavily on photojournalists as well as writers to provide news coverage. Narrative alone will not satisfy today's readers. Automatic associations, emotions and assumptions occur as we look at such images. And photojournalists are well aware of this. Outstanding photographers are very good at capturing an event that is hot in the news.

Little blogs - 6/10/06

We do not work as hard at it as some others do. We do not shamelessly go after an endless number of links with just anyone, which I hear is the way to get your traffic numbers up. We do not post each day or multiple times a day. We sometimes post about the "lint in our own navels," which is only interesting to us. We sometimes do "bobble head" posts, which, for the unititiated, are posts that agree with the prevailing point of view and add nothing new to the discussion. And we sometimes rant just to get it off our chests. There are thousands of us.

Word of the Day: Misnomer 9/5/06

Today's post is about best word usage. The definition of misnomer is in the title link above, by the way. Words are very important to good writing and reporting. Journalists need to use the most effective terminology when reporting news.

Misnomer - Part Two 9/6/06

Accurate terms - Yesterday's S/Sw post was about the importance of using the right words to describe events. Today I am continuing with my thoughts . . .