US paper says: ‘Blog before you do anything else’

All reporters at the Rhode Island Providence Journal are trained to “blog before you do anything else”.

Breaking news is blogged as it happens, 7am to 7pm. The 7 to 7 Breaking News Blog site has sparked an upsurge in demand for email news alerts and boosted Twitter followers. The site’s advertising is booked months in advance. The 7 to 7 can also be sent to consumers’ mobile phones. A typical page of blogged stories is here.

The blog project was a big idea presented at the Poynter Institute’s Big Ideas conference this week.

Good for journalism, good for business

US media education website the Poynter Institute asked media people to come up with ideas that would be good for journalism and good for business.

The resulting Big Ideas conference presentations are covered in archived liveblogging here. Links to the websites of Big Idea presenters are provided (scroll down).

A key message: interactivity is boosting readers/audience numbers. A Wiki project of the Albuquerque Journal even allows paid subscribers to edit content; a radio station lets people at home “see into” the studio and talk live with talkshow hosts (KSL News of Salt Lake City).

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