Participatory Journalism & Blogs

Is the customer always right?  No -- but they are always the customer.  Then, who will have the final word in the new world of newspapers--the journalist or the reader, now invited to be the citizen journalist? 

The New York Times reports "Newspapers Are Betting on Audience Participation" and datelines Greensboro, N.C., where The News & Record Landmark Communications, the local daily, is working away at reinventing their newspaper.  Readers can go online and offer their own versions of articles they do not like.  The idea is to convert the paper, through the web at www.news-record.com into a virtual meeting place where every reader is a reporter.

This is called participatory journalism or citizen journalism. Readers become reporters in many forms, including blogs, providing photos, providing podcasts and video.

Let's think about this a minute and find out how you, the participant in the Duct Tape Marketing Blog Channels, want to weigh in on this issue. Do you think that's a neat idea?  Then what's stopping your from  hitting the comment button at the end of this blog and expressing yourself?  Go ahead.  We encourage that sort of behavior every day.

What if you are a journalist?  Suppose you graduated from one of the finest colleges where journalism is so excellent and accredited that it has it's own degree, the BJ or Bachelor of Journalism.  Suppose you spent the last decade or so as a professional journalist?  How does this whole idea of citizen journalist hit you?  What about a citizen accountant, who rewrites the books if they don't like the way the numbers come up?  (Oh, that's been done already, you say?)  What about a citizen teacher, who rewrites the curriculum if they don't like what is offered up to students?  Do you fancy the idea of a citizen surgeon who always wanted to try their hand at medicine?

The bigger issue for the business of newspapers is "where is the money in this?" If readership is down with the stories done by the journalists, then what will readership do with stories by anyone who wants to log on and blog on?

The bigger issue we'd like to put in front of you is this: Where is the business sense in blogging for you? Just in case this is the platform of preference by business participants and customers and the latest way of busting out of existing media forms that has mainstream media running scared, we offer you valuable guidance. 

First, get a copy of Blog Lightning - How To Create and Promote Your Small Business Blog In A Flash.  Then follow the specific, step-by-step directions to find out for yourself how attractive this whole idea of citizen journalist or citizen blogger really is.