Jul
27
Washington Post reporter Frank Ahrens has a fascinating and must-read piece up at the American Journalism Review relating his work as both reporter and blogger as part of the Post’s coverage of the Enron trial.
The article is like a road map for reporters — and publications — in how to extend the journalism. It’s also entertaining as hell.
SOURCE: TRINETIZEN | TAGS: BLOGGING, JOURNALISM, RETHINKING MEDIA
[...] With hat-tips to Roy Greenslade and Mark Hamilton, Washington Post reporter Frank Ahrens' piece in the American Journallism Review does indeed act "like a road map for reporters — and publications — in how to extend the journalism." And yes, "It’s also entertaining as hell." Ahrens' piece talks about "covering the Enron trial for the Web, radio, TV—and, yes, the newspaper." Ahrens' account shows how several things work, like online news updates (i.e. the continuous news desk), his blog (vs., say, the three blogs the Houston Chronicle published for the trial), the vagaries of using different tones to report in different mediums. And we hate to give away the ending, but we trust you'll read the whole thing. Ahrens near-final graf reads: "It should be clear by now that personality is key to building a news audience, be it via print, Web, radio or video. I compare a news blogger to the character of the stage manager in "Our Town": not a player in the drama, but indispensable to its telling. The casting of the role is critical; a boring stage manager will ruin the play." [...]