« Summertime on the Winooski | Main | Best Vermont Blog Daysie »
Monday, July 17, 2006
Newspapers are hotbeds of online experimentation!
That's what this Media Life Magazine article says. I believe it. Publishers are so worried about declining circulation that they'll try almost anything. "The new catchphrase," the story says, "Try it, see if it works."
I like that.
Speaking of which, the Burlington Free Press has added yet another new blog: Vermont Field Journal, by Outdoors Editor Matt Crawford. Cool.
You would think that with all my posts about their blogs, they would, like, link to this site... but oh, wait, not only do they not have blogrolls, but their posts are mysteriously devoid of links! What's the deal?
Look at this post about a Tarrant campaign web ad. The post is about something on the web and they don't link to it! Is this a software glitch? Or do their corporate overlords fear that once readers leave the site, they'll stay gone? Hotbed of experimentation, indeed.
But I'd like to end this post on a positive note, so I'll point out that Scott Monroe of the Stowe Reporter has a MySpace page. He friended me recently, which is how I made that remarkable discovery. I've never actually met Scott, but I read his blog, 49 School Street. Yay for reporters willing to experiment! I like the title of his profile: "When news breaks... we fix it."
July 17, 2006 at 08:28 PM in Media/Keeping an eye on the competition | Permalink
Comments
Isn't this just the way its usually done? I dont recall other newspaper "blogs" having links - certainly not a blogroll. I've always looked at them as fundamentally different creatures that standard blogs.
Posted by: odum | Jul 18, 2006 8:50:00 AM
They don't have to be different, and the good ones aren't.
Some examples:
Going From Jackson, Donna Ladd's Jackson Free Press blog
The Capital Beat at the daily Greensboro News and Record.
Slog, The Stranger, no blogroll, but lotsa links.
Same with the Arkansas Times
Heck, even Scott Monroe of the Stowe Reporter has got a blogroll on his site.
It simply does not make sense to write online without providing functional links. I'm sure the BFP will fix that eventually, either by fixing the software, or changing their corporate policy. You can't blog successfully without linking.
Posted by: cresmer | Jul 18, 2006 9:23:43 AM
I forgot to mention my favorite traditional media-owned blog, Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish. It looks like a blog, it acts like a blog, it IS a blog (though sans comments). And it's owned by Time Magazine.
What's so freaking radical about links?
Posted by: cresmer | Jul 18, 2006 9:28:43 AM
What's so freaking radical about links?
To a traditional, profit-driven media operation, links just promote the competition and send people away from your site.
Posted by: odum | Jul 18, 2006 9:36:08 AM
I know the conventional thinking, I just think it's stupid.
I was so annoyed by the lack of a link to Tarrant's site in that post that I planted one in the comments thread. Let's see if they take it down.
Posted by: cresmer | Jul 18, 2006 9:41:34 AM
Oh yeah - it will be very interesting if they respond, either by taking yours down or (gasp) adding one themselves...!
Posted by: odum | Jul 18, 2006 9:58:22 AM
Yay! BFP writer Terri Hallenback explains why she wasn't posting links. Apparently she just hadn't figured it out the html yet. I'm glad it's not against corporate policy. That would be creepy.
Also glad that the first link she posted is to 802. Nice.
For the record, I'm a Burlington Free Press subscriber, and I visit their website several times a day. My intention in bringing this up is to use my tiny pulpit to push other Vermont journalists to adapt to the Internet the way I, as a user, want them to. I'm not just out to bash the Gannett-owned daily.
Posted by: cresmer | Jul 19, 2006 2:04:46 PM
The comments to this entry are closed.