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Home > Blogs > Get on the Bus > Archives > 2008 > August > 19
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
A few words on the role of education blogs
Richard Whitmire
My friend and fellow Education Writers Association member Richard Whitmire from USA Today is guest blogging this week over at Eduwonk, one of the best known national education blogs. Richard has some kind words for Get on the Bus in the course of arguing that education coverage needs traditional media sources because free-standing education blogs could not provide the depth of coverage necessary for quality commentary on the issues without relying on traditional journalism.
I agree with Richard in general. At least for today.
I do think there will be opportunity, however, in the near future for self-supporting quality niche websites on topics of local interest. What it will take is talented journalist bloggers willing to cover issues in depth that will be overlooked as traditional media shrinks and narrows its coverage. But these bloggers also will have to handle the business side of blogging for a living, which is new territory for most journalists.
And yet there is an ever increasing supply of quality journalists exiting the corporate side of the media. We’ve already seen examples of these folks making local impact through niche websites. Just as an example look at Minnesota, where former traditional journalists now cover Minneapolis online through MinnPost and former New York Times foreign correspondent Doug McGill writes about the impact of world events on Rochester, Minn., at The McGill Report.
These pioneers are charting paths for effective stand alone journalism in the future, even if they are not yet self-sustaining through the old advertising-supported model.
I expect as media transitions to primarily an Internet delivery system, more advertising dollars will follow until the financial model will begin to work more effectively, whether for traditional media or for new entrepreneurs running niche sites.
So while Richard is certainly right for today when he says bloggers can’t really go it alone without traditional media, this may not remain true going forward.
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