Blog like a journalist
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This document provides guidance for writing journalistic blog posts. It defines a blog as content published online in reverse chronological order. Key elements of a journalistic blog post include calling attention to something new, linking to sources, adding other sources and perspectives, and striving for disciplined informality. The document recommends choosing a narrow topic area, maintaining a wide reading list, engaging with readers, and avoiding speculating on motives without original reporting. It also discusses blogging platforms, how often to post, and how blogging can help career and participation in conversations.
Blog like a journalist
- 1. Blog Like a Journalist Establishing Your Voice in the Digital Age
- 2. Blogging is so 2005
- 3. In 2016, social media rule
- 4. Even Andrew Sullivan got out
- 5. But there’s a downside to social
- 6. You can write for yourself. Or you can serve someone else’s agenda without getting paid for it. (Or, like most of us, you can do a little of both.)
- 7. A blog is your own digital homestead
- 8. What is a blog? Taking the most expansive definition possible, a blog consists of content, usually text or mostly text, that is published online in reverse chronological order.
- 9. Dave Winer “A blog is the unedited voiceof a person.”
- 10. Elements of a journalistic blog post • Call your audience’s attention to something it doesn’t know
- 11. Elements of a journalistic blog post • Call your audience’s attention to something it doesn’t know • Link to the source of your information; quote (but not too much) from your source
- 12. Elements of a journalistic blog post • Call your audience’s attention to something it doesn’t know • Link to the source of your information; quote (but not too much) from your source • Add value by bringing in other sources of information
- 13. Elements of a journalistic blog post • Call your audience’s attention to something it doesn’t know • Link to the source of your information; quote (but not too much) from your source • Add value by bringing in other sources of information • Offer your own perspective and analysis; strive for disciplined informality
- 14. How to keep it going • Choose a beat that’s narrow but not too narrow
- 15. How to keep it going • Choose a beat that’s narrow but not too narrow • Compile a wide-ranging reading list
- 16. How to keep it going • Choose a beat that’s narrow but not too narrow • Compile a wide-ranging reading list • Engage with “the former audience”
- 17. How to keep it going • Choose a beat that’s narrow but not too narrow • Compile a wide-ranging reading list • Engage with “the former audience” • If you’re not doing original reporting, stay away from talking about motives
- 18. How to keep it going • Choose a beat that’s narrow but not too narrow • Compile a wide-ranging reading list • Engage with “the former audience” • If you’re not doing original reporting, stay away from talking about motives • Learn to use photos within the limits of copyright law
- 19. Platforms • WordPress.com is free, user-friendly and modest in its ambitions
- 20. Platforms • WordPress.com is free, user-friendly and modest in its ambitions • Easy upgrade path to WordPress.org if you want more control
- 21. Platforms • WordPress.com is free, user-friendly and modest in its ambitions • Easy upgrade path to WordPress.org if you want more control • Tumblr, Medium and Blogger all have their good and bad points
- 22. How often should you blog? The old rule was as often as possible — once a day or more. Social media and WordPress’ email option have lessened the stress.
- 23. Blogging can help you stand out from the crowd
- 24. Blogging can help you stand out from the crowd • Be part of a larger conversation
- 25. Blogging can help you stand out from the crowd • Be part of a larger conversation • Hone your journalistic voice
- 26. Blogging can help you stand out from the crowd • Be part of a larger conversation • Hone your journalistic voice • Enhance your career
- 27. And it’s fun
- 31. www.dailykos.com
- 33. Photo credits • Andrew Sullivan (cc) 2006 by Trey Ratcliff • Mark Zuckerberg (cc) 2008 by kris krüg • Blogger (cc) by Gregg Richards • Dave Winer (cc) by Josh Bancroft
- 34. (cc) 2015 and 2016 by Dan Kennedy Creative Commons license online at www.dankennedy.net For more information, see “Blog Like a Journalist: The Revolutionary Gleam Has Faded. Yet Blogging Remains at the Center of the Digital Media Toolbox,” by Dan Kennedy. Medium, August 13, 2014. School of Journalism Northeastern University Boston, MA 02115