June 12, 2008

There has been a lot of discussion, over the past few years, about why a lot of people get their news from Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. Of course, we know that people don't get their news there, but they appreciate the delivery of the news much better. In fact, unless you keep up with the "real" news, you won't get the jokes in either Comedy Central show.

That is where a lot of news organizations are running astray. People still get their news from their local newspapers/stations and from the national news outlets, but they laugh about it with Stewart and Colbert. They see it in a different light that way.

I think that a lot of it is the personal tone of each of those shows. They pose as news anchors, but they're really just us -- if we were all witty and smart, that is -- commenting on current events. They aren't the untouchable anchor with the perfect hair and teeth and commanding voice, but that's what makes them more appealing. We like feeling close to and sharing a joke with someone who is intelligently commenting on current events or even on every day life.

How can the conventional news outlet respond? With blogs. It seems simple enough, and these days seems like common sense even. But there are too many news outlets who either don't have blogs, or who don't promote them. It's amazing, really.

When my company updated all of our blogs to the latest version of Movable Type -- a huge effort, for an upgrade -- we took the opportunity to also update the designs. We took them from looking like a hodge-podge of old-fashioned and messy design to something professional that fit in with the main site without looking like just another news story. As a result of that, we have seen more and more people get excited about blogging, and there is a great reader response to that.

I assumed that we would be taking cues from some of the major news outlets, like CNN and MSNBC, but I was surprised at the lack of marketing from the homepage that they had for their blogs.

Although MSNBC was my favorite as far as look and feel go, I had to Google "MSNBC blogs" just to find them. There isn't a link off of the home page to any blog listing page or even to the blogs themselves. I do like their look though...looks like the main MSNBC site but each blog has a personal touch of the blogger, so it isn't just another part of the site. And, their blogs are cross-browser compatible, unlike their main site.

ABC actually has a "Blog Roundup" section of their homepage to link to their individual blogs. But the others, CBS and CNN, only had links from the bottom of the page.

As for local newspapers and stations, I looked in some of the major markets and found a few, but they were mostly wordpress templates squeezed into the main news wrapper...not attractive.

News blogs are important to have, these days. People want to see their favorite reporters doing something different than just reporting the news on camera. Even if it's hearing that the Anchor is moving to a new apartment or that the weather guy buys the same thing from Starbuck's every morning that the reader does, it means something. Think about Oprah's "after the show" program. People want to know more, and in a more personal, "behind the scenes" way.

So where are the blogs? They're out there, and a lot are good. The potential, though, is being ignored by most media sites, and not just the major ones.

It is important to get your reporters blogging about anything. Promote it, because it is increasingly the most comfortable way for people to get their news. Have a more personal tone and give a "behind-the-scenes" look. That doesn't mean that a blogger needs to be as funny or snide as Stewart and Colbert, or even funny at all. In fact, sometimes it's annoying when the one we actually get news from tries to be a comedian. People want to connect though, and blogs are an easy way to achieve that, while adding more updated content to your site.

By kim | Permalink | Comments (3)

3 Comments

By Michael Surtees on June 13, 2008 11:37 AM

Good observations on how people are consuming news. I think part of the issue w/ some of the larger news sites not having more blogs is the fear of personal opinion as opposed to giving the impression of an unbiased opinion. Another reason might be that there so stretched for resources that they just don't have the time. Thirdly they just might not get blogs.

One post that you'll probably enjoy that I came across recently was http://publishing2.com/2008/06/04/what-newspapers-still-dont-understand-about-the-web/

and for some laughs http://twitter.com/AndersonCooper

By Kim on June 13, 2008 5:22 PM

Hi Michael...I'm sure that all of the reasons you mentioned are in play here. I do think they will have to work around their issues though and embrace the social aspects of the internet, as more newspapers and stations lay off and lose out to the web.

I love the article from Publishing 2.0! I can't believe I haven't run across that site before...it's great and I'm going to add it to my list.

And the Silver Fox. Gotta give it to him, he is very web savvy!

By Karik on September 2, 2011 6:53 PM

This is the perfect way to break down this ifnormtaion.

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