In the second chapter of Journalism Next, Mark Briggs discusses the importance of blogging as a multi-disciplinary medium and its specific impact on the field of journalism.
Briggs argues that blogging has increased the tools available to journalists (and, indeed, broadened the journalist label to include many non-traditional reporters) while simultaneously posing new challenges.
The goal Briggs sets is to help aspiring journalists successfully adapt in a transitioning industry.
What Is a Blog?
Briggs lists three characteristics that he says all websites must have to be considered genuine blogs:
- Frequency: Blogs are updated often
- Format: Each blog has a main body of text, possibly including video, images, and links, beneath a headline
- Comments: Blogging is an exercise in community, and under Briggs' definition any self-respecting blogger will have a comments section on his site.
The first news blog is widely attributed to Dan Gillmor, who started the blog for the San Jose Mercury News in 1999. Since then, blog readership has exploded across the Internet, with an estimated 77 percent of Internet users in the U.S. saying that they regularly read a blog of some sort.
Briggs says that, as of 2009, The New York Times alone had 65 blogs.
Resources
Blogger and Wordpress are the two largest blog hosting sites, and both offer free accounts.
Technorati ranks the most popular blogs on the Internet.
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