For those wondering what happened to the staple of Sunday San Diego…hey, I didn’t post yesterday, ok? Fleischman said he was going to half my pay as a result. I went to public schools, and (not but) I can figure 50 percent of zilch. So, what do you want for free?
Speaking of real media sources, however, which have real deadlines that can’t be missed, let’s take a look at the San Diego Union-Trib’s increase in blogging.
As noted previously, Chris Reed’s America’s Finest Blog has been a welcome addition to the U-T, utilizing a sometimes acerbic opinion style that the more stoic newsprint editorial pages can’t – or won’t – even begin to touch. Bottom line: Chris’ no-holds-barred writing is an entertaining must read.
Without getting into the unknown legal nuances between the U-T’s broadsheet and the on-line SignOnSanDiego.com, the editors do want to assure a wall of separation of sorts, offering a variation on the usual disclaimer:
While the items on U-T Online: America’s Finest Blog are written by a U-T editorial writer – Chris Reed – they are his views, not those of the U-T Editorial Board. So if (when) he irks you, blame him. He’ll post the sharpest responses.
Cute. That said, Chris’ postings have apparently scored enough points with a newspaper trying to address the dilemma of declining newsprint readership against a growing demand for e-content (every newspaper’s dilemma). In January, it seems the U-T added some blogs, including a Newsblog and something called Out There, where readers can even post comments on the entrees (àla Voice of San Diego and the North County Times). Read the respective descriptions:
Newsblog… This is the Union-Tribune staff’s running log of breaking local news. We have the largest news staff in San Diego, deployed throughout the region. Our journalists live across the county, and they are experts about the area and in the topics they cover for you every day. They are better positioned to find out what’s going on in your community than any other news source. But we still need your help. After all, it’s a big county. See news break? Something we’re missing? Know something we don’t? Email us at breaking@uniontrib.com.
Out There… Our news staff reports the news for you every day. But we come across a lot of less significant but no less interesting stories as we go about our daily lives in every corner of the county, the kind of tidbits that we just don’t have space to fit in the newspaper or just don’t rise to that level. So we set up this blog as a place to share these anecdotes with you just as we do with our friends. We’re not sure how it will evolve, and we’ll be working to improve it as we go. We do think it’s going to work, however, as we’re storytellers by nature and there’s plenty of these stories to tell. And we know you love a good little story. We welcome your comments.
Here’s the link to a portal for all the blogs, including America’s Finest Blog and some others.
Good for the U-T. Very few reader comments posted to the new blog content at this point, so let me suggest something to the editors, who have been so receptive and responsive to my input in the past…not.
If NOT for a U-T reporter informing me of the new blogs, I wouldn’t have known they existed, even though I may be slightly more a newshound than the average e-news reader. But, sure enough, there they were, teensy-weensy links to the blogs from the SignOnSanDiego main page.
My recommendation: U-T, promote these new blog vehicles a bit more, at least until a solid stable of readers are aware. How to go about this? I dunno, that’s why you have marketing staff. Consider my part a donation.
Everyone, have a great week…even though I didn’t tell you on Sunday.