Thursday, January 19, 2006

On January 13, the Austin Chronicle panned the Austin American-Statesman's Rich & Fred blog (by Statesman top editors Rich Oppel and Fred Zipp). See "Snoring Out Loud: Statesman blunders with bland blogging," by Kevin Brass.

Now, to be clear, I applaud the Statesman (and any traditional news organization) that encourages editors, reporters, columnists, and other staffers to blog. I also understand that it's not always easy for these people to wrap their brains around the culture, format, and flow of blogging -- or even to have much time to blog, let alone respond to comments. I don't expect miracles. News pros are busy people. Also, any form of conversational media is very different from traditional publishing.

Still, I do think Brass made a worthwhile observation about the message sent by a sporadic, on-again, off-again blog from a major news organization. He wrote:

"Six months [after the blog's launch], after sporadic postings often focused on snippy complaints about the paper, the Rich & Fred blog petered out, after a final posting perhaps coincidentally titled 'Awkward Conversations.' Zipp said in December it wasn't worth his time, considering the minimal response to the editors' musings from 'what is at this point a small readership.' 'For a blog to truly thrive it requires constant care and feeding,' said Zipp. But then, three weeks later, the blog suddenly reappeared, sending, at best, a mixed message about the paper's enthusiasm for the wacky, high-paced blogosphere."

Statesman editors' credit, Rich & Fred seems more frequent and lively now.

In my estimation, one thing people expect from major news organizations is some measure of consistency either in the frequency or amount of content. It's a higher bar than for independent blogs since the audience is different.
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