Staying viable

Comment

Comment by maria p. gonzalez on February 12, 2008 at 1:27pm

Keeping up my blog doesn't take that much more time. And when people respond or offer ideas, it enhances my job. Would you consider your phone a threat to the print product? That's kind of how I see it. Making calls or taking calls gets you tips or starts conversations, which you can then use for bigger stories. And your online contributions are all part of the news product. Print is just one element.

Comment by Brian Newsome on February 12, 2008 at 11:44am

I've used Myspace in my reporting, especially to find friends or family after a homicide or some other crime. I've volunteered to begin beat blogging with our newspaper. In one sense I'm excited about the possibilities, but I also worry that the constant attention demanded of a blog will make our print product suffer. Perhaps this is just a misconception?

Comment by maria p. gonzalez on February 12, 2008 at 11:36am

Sometimes when I have some extra time and I'm off deadline, I'll jump on MySpace and start doing searches for names I know from around town, or for businesses, to see if they have an account. This then leads me to other people of interest. But you need to have your own account to really take advantage of some features, like looking at their list of friends and pictures. I've found quite an online community for our town, and I think doing this relates to my job. Sometimes I find neat profiles, like a recording label in our town no one had heard about. I also got information on a new youth music venue in our town through MySpace.