First Draft by Tim Porter

Blogging the Beat III

John Robinson, editor of the News-Record in Greensboro, N.C., responds to some questions asked by Ed Cone about a year of blogging by some of the newspaper's reporters.

Cone asks:

I wonder what the N&R bloggers think. Is blogging useful to you? Are you happy to be doing it? What rules do you follow on your blog, and how does it differ from other work you do?

Robinson responds:

In our case, the simple answer is that the rules of journalism we follow in the newspaper -- independence, fairness, accuracy, truth-telling -- apply online as well. The message that I give to our staff bloggers is that they must practice journalism and represent the values of the newspaper. We see the blogs as an extension of our journalism, no more, no less.

I've add my say on this here. [Read: Bloggin the Beat.] So let's give the last word to Andrew Heyward, president of CBS News, who summarizes the networks big move onto the web -- using short video, blogging and other tools -- this way: "We are looking to the future," he said. "This is a place that all journalism has to go."

Indeed.

Posted by Tim Porter at July 13, 2005 08:40 AM