Blogging the story: An
evolving journalism online
Sue Robinson
Temple University
International Symposium
on Online Journalism
April 17, 2004
What’s a blog?
 Cross
between column, news story, diary
 Perfect
place to display short-form
reporting, short-form analysis, shortform writing?
 Perfect
to spur national debate?
 Journalism?
Research questions

Do blogs rate as journalism?

How might the nonlinear nature of online writing,
and these particular blogs, affect news delivery?

How are truth, independence, credibility, and
authorship being established in J-blogs?

How do journalists negotiate and (re)interpret
traditional news frames in the online medium?
Answering the questions

Textual analysis of 114 J-blogs in
mainstream news publications

Scrutinized 15 J-blogs’ implications for
journalism
The J-code
Kovach & Rosenstiel’s
9 elements of journalism





Obligation to truth
Loyalty to
citizenship
Discipline of
verification
Independence from
sources
Monitor of power




Forum for debate
Significant accounts
interesting and
relevant
Comprehensive and
proportional news
Ethical obligation
The result

To set the agenda for societal debate (McCombs &
Shaw, 1972)

Reinforces the dominant hegemony of democratic,
capitalist America:
“Although journalists do not set out
to report the news so that the existing
politico-economic system is maintained,
their professional norms end up
producing stories that implicitly support
the existing order” (Soloski, 1989/1997, p.144)

News repair (Bennett et al, 1985)
Postmodern journalism

New journalism such as “In Cold Blood”

Information age: Dismissal of dominant identity

Globalization: Loss of any one power

Time is nonlinear

History: Different stories of multiple passages of
time

Narratives are reader interpreted
(Jameson, 1981)
Blogging journalism

Framing in multiple ways

Computers have kaleidoscope powers (Murray,
1997)

Audience agency: Both dancer, musician

Hyperlinks: The never-ending story

J-blogs: The ultimate news?
(Murray, 1997; Landow, 1997; Wendland, 2003)
Where does that leave
traditional norms and
values?
Elements of a blog
Journalism as “truth”

Must synthesize relevant, significant information
(Kovach & Rosenstiel)

Even columns must be true, verified
“Rather than rushing to add context and interpretation,
the press needs to concentrate on synthesis and
verification” (Kovach & Rosenstiel, 2001, p.47).
Journalism as truth (cont.)

Linking to other “truths”

Context, interpretation well documented

Synthesis, verification not present

“Journalism” repair
The New Republic:
http://www.tnr.com/blog/campaignjournal
Drudge and others are hyping the fact that Boston Globe
reporter Patrick Healy has sent out an e-mail correcting
the transcript of John Kerry's recent comments at a
Florida fund-raiser. Kudos to Healy for double-checking
and correcting his reporting, but the fact that Kerry said
“more leaders” instead of “foreign leaders” doesn't
change the substance of what he said…. Instead of
unconvincingly spinning Healy's correction as proof that
Kerry was misunderstood--when he clearly was not-why not just let the story die a natural death? (Posted
March 16)
Independence, loyalty to citizens

Must be objective, free from ties in order
to perform “watch-dog” function
(Kovach & Rosenstiel)
Seattle Post-Intelligencer:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/lincoln/journal/
Visited the ship’s captain on the bridge and he
noted that the media’s stories have softened
after our few weeks onboard. We’re getting to
know the crew, he said. True. We’ve met
amazing, dedicated people aboard. But that
word “soft” – it worries me. There’s such a
dearth of hard news on the Lincoln.
(March 25, 2003)
Verification, debate forum

Sources, readers “verify”
“We knew that there is plenty of other very good
reporting out there. And we knew that to
have credibility with the reader we couldn’t
just say, well, here’s what The Times is
reporting and ignore everybody else”
-- the NYTimes.com editor on new blog
“Times on the Trail”

Reader “repair”
Significant, proportional

Banal mixes with action

Rarely contain news in traditional sense

New form of news
Florida Today (Feb. 1, 2003)
http://www.floridatoday.com/journal/020103landing.htm
9:06 a.m.: “Ten minutes from wheels down.”
 9:20: “NASA has lost communication with the orbiter
and has no tracking data.”
 9:28: “Mission control is silent. There was never a sign
of the orbiter here. There was brief discussion of an
instrumentation problem aboard the orbiter just before
communications was lost but no explanation. Then,
Merritt Island tracking station did not pick up the
orbiter's signal. It was believed last contacted over
Texas.”
 9:32: “A search and rescue team is being dispatched to
Texas, where it is believed the orbiter broke up during
descent. Very, very little is being said here about what
has happened in part because officials appear not to
know yet.”

Postmodern Writing

Multiple entries, endings

Porthole to rest of “story”

Meaningless, or multi-meaning
Austin Statesman:
http://www.austin360.com/xl/content/xl/index.html
…Whatever. So I flew to Columbus, Ohio, two
weekends ago to visit the girl, Ms. Laura, who
was formerly my girlfriend but became just a
friend when she moved back home, yet has
reclaimed the title of girlfriend, even though my
contract says I will never, ever do a longdistance relationship and my lawyer, doctor and
editor have advised against such lunacy. I
ignored all of this, because snuggles are fun.
(Posted, March 15, 2004)
Blogging new forms, sort of

Corporate answer to independent blogs and
the Internet

News repair still happening, but with a
postmodern twist

Readers shaping own frames, “truths”

Are traditional J-values even more important
then?
“As sources, perspectives and therefore values
multiply and diversify, journalism objectivity
becomes even more necessary than it is
today.”
(Gans,. 1979, p.315)
VS
“If journalists tell their stories on behalf of a
normative order, they may be doing so to an
ever smaller and less attentive audience.”
(Cook, 1996, p. 479)