The three new blogs from the Irish Times – On the Record by Jim Carroll, Pricewatch by Conor Pope and Present Tense by Shane Hegarty are all quite excellent and all meet the criteria of blogs with comments and proper feeds. (I encourage you to subscribe.)
Not to be outdone the Irish Independent are almost almost there in putting blogs and podcasts on their website too and I even hear videos will be put up. Hooray for content. A few Sunday papers are also messing around with the idea of blogs.
Some people at the Blog Awards this year complained that the “professional” writers were at some kind of advantage because of who they write for. I don’t believe they are and that was reflected in who won. I’m against the idea but do people think people who write for papers or the blogs on the likes of Ireland.com should have their own category?
I suppose the question there is “what is a professional blogger?”
Is it someone who blogs for a living, or blogs about or as a part of their living? I get the impression that the three Ireland.com bloggers are not getting any extra money for their blogs, and it’s a labour of love that simply adds to their collective reputations in their respective fields… in the same sense The Bubble Brothers and Ice Cream Ireland don’t make their money from blogs, but they do use them to promote and enhance the products they sell… with that in mind the bloggers on Ireland.com are no different than Harry McGee or Richard Delevan really – nor are they any different than any blogger using the medium as a form of self or product promotion.
Fair enough, the Ireland.com bloggers are given their platforms by the companies they work for but being a blogger only costs as much as you want it to, so having to set your own blog up and having one set up for you is much of a muchness and offers no advantage.
And finally, if there are people in the Irish blog community whom make their living from blogging then they’re obviously very good at what they do, so why punish them for that by forcing them out of the general categories and into their own?
Then again they can get more time to dedicate to the blog.
It does relate to the whole issue of nominating though…people with outlets in the MSM have an audience of followers for their MSM output (not necessarily their blog exploits) who will nominate them at the awards regardless of their blog content. Many people I spoke with at the awards this year were unhappy about that..but then again maybe Damien has plans for rejigging the voting process?
Even if you wanted to – and I don’t – it would be impossible to draw a line around the category. A blog could be essential to business through its indirect benefits but when does it change from being a personal passion to being professional ? When you get a new client, a new job, feedback of value, a book deal?
You could have a category for MSM – not because those blogs are necessarily any more professional than other blogs, but because we all want to see those publications embrace blogging, and because they exist in a MSM online platform they do have something in common that can be compared. Aren’t we already comparing how the Irish Times is doing with reference to how the British papers – especially the Guardian – are doing things?
Adam, whatever about there being little end result for the reader etc (and event that might not be so), the Ireland.com blogs are more then the self/product-promotion or the labour of love kind of blogs seen before here.
A move, and indeed the first move, by an Irish newspaper into blogging is quite different then journalists setting up their own blogs.
I’d find it quite strange if the journalists were not getting paid extra or offered something extra in return, or at the very least a deal for such if the readership of the blogs picks up.
It is certainly unrealistic for them to be unpaid for extra work in the medium to long term (I’d be surprised if it hasn’t been talked about within the NUJ, at least at “chapelâ€? level). And the Times look to be in for the long term, if the Indo and others are going to be blogging they’ll have to stick with it.
Adam, whatever about there being little end result for the reader etc (and event that might not be so), the Ireland.com blogs are more then the self/product-promotion or the labour of love kind of blogs seen before here.
A move, and indeed the first move, by an Irish newspaper into blogging is quite different then journalists setting up their own blogs.
Not in terms of content, which is what the basis of an IBA nomination should be.
I’d find it quite strange if the journalists were not getting paid extra or offered something extra in return, or at the very least a deal for such if the readership of the blogs picks up.
I’m just guessing, and the only way anyone can find out is if the IT or one of their bloggers lets us know – that said I don’t see it as being all that strange, as there’s every chance that it was pressure from editorial staff that pushed the IT in the direction of blogging in the first place… in that case there’s every chance that it is being done gratis (for the moment at least).
@ thatgirl:
It does relate to the whole issue of nominating though…people with outlets in the MSM have an audience of followers for their MSM output (not necessarily their blog exploits) who will nominate them at the awards regardless of their blog content.
It doesn’t really relate at all in my opinion, no more than the issue of getting friends/family members, business associates or co-workers to nominate you regardless of blog content.
Also the suggestion that bloggers working in the media have an audience advantage which doesn’t reflect their content is based on a number of assumptions – for example that said blogger’s audience from their media work aren’t also their audience from their blog work and that the MSM readers/listeners/etc. who aren’t reading the blog are still somehow made aware of the IBA nominations and decide to vote despite having no interest in the blog. It also assumes that anyone in the media has their own personal audience!
Basically, to single out people in the media because some of their votes might come from people voting for personality over content would ignore the potential of it happening in all the other categories, and besides that the question of how nominations as a whole are made is for another day’s debate altogether.
what about journalists who blog seperately to their professional outlet?
All bloggers are equal.
All bloggers are equal.
But some bloggers are more equal than others, apparently.
Getting back to the first question, may I suggest the ‘best blog of a media outlet’… so you could lump in radio, newspaper(s) etc… just an idea.
Getting back to the first question, may I suggest the ‘best blog of a media outlet’… so you could lump in radio, newspaper(s) etc… just an idea.
Aren’t all bloggers a media outlet? Ok – I’m saying that with my tongue in my cheek, but hey, we are in a way!
I would have concern over the awards being segregated by the profession of the blogger (or the purpose of the company) producing it. I think 1) that ignores one of the core principals of blogging and 2) it leads to the potential weakening of the awards as a whole.
Just to expand on that:
If the awards are focused on content (Best Business Blog, Best Personal Blog, Best Tech Blog etc.) then it shouldn’t matter who the blogger is or what company they’re blogging for – what matters is the content they produce.
Also, defining award winners by career-type will lead to both a muddling of the community – so Jim Carroll might have the best music blog going, but he won’t win the relevant award because people think “professional” blog should have their own category – or he might have a terrible music blog but because it’s the best of the ones being produced by media outlets he wins that award by default.
Bloggers should be treated equally and not segregated based on the job they do, the company they work for or the money they may have to put into their sites’. Categorise by content and compare it that way – then the best of each area will shine through rather than the best of each “class”.