Comments on: Blogging and the future of journalism

By: Sean

Sean — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 11:33:33 +0000

great article!
blogging is the way forward, digital media is shifting, google news is now the biggest news service in the world. anybody can be a journalist now

By: Colin Todhunter

Colin Todhunter — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 11:25:33 +0000

I used to have a visitor counter on one of my sites, but removed it because, as you argue, it was pretty meaningless without any qualitative information to put the figures into perspective. Interesting what you say about blogging and journalism. I tend to agree with you that are quite different but can contribute something positive. It’s such a pity that the print media (ie newspapers) are struggling. I come from Liverpool and the morning newspaper there, The Daily Post, has just recently stopped printying a Saturday edition, due to falling circulation. There are fears it will fold eventually and just become on online newspaper. As someone who writes for newspapers, to me, that won’t be the same.

By: doctorvee

doctorvee — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 22:30:31 +0000

Thanks for the comment Kev — and what a great name for a website!

By: Kev

Kev — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 22:24:55 +0000

Personally I’m sick of the whole Blogging vs Journalism debate. I absolutely agree with you that there’s no need for them to be pitted against each other the way they are in traditional media; the former is a reactive discipline, and the latter – for the most part – is pro-active.

Maybe, as the Scottish media landscape shifts around us, bloggers will break more stories and adopt a more journalistic role but as it is right now they need journalists and traditional media to survive.

Convergence is four letter word in the industry just now, but it’s happening like it or not. If it keeps going this way then bloggers will be well placed to step up to the plate as their skills and contacts become more in demand – but will they WANT to?

By: doctorvee

doctorvee — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 13:43:10 +0000

Feedburner shows how many people are subscribed to your feed on the dashboard once you sign in. You might be able to see yours by using this image as a template: But change the address of my feed to the address of yours.

By: Alianora La Canta

Alianora La Canta — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 00:48:53 +0000

How do you get Feedburner to tell you how many people are subscribed to your feed? I have a Feedburner feed in my blog, but all Feedburner does when I log into it is complain because I don’t have a Google account (and can’t get one because I find their registration process inaccessible).

By: Niall Harbison

Niall Harbison — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 22:12:09 +0000

great piece and I agree with most of it. I think bloggers and journalists will eventually sit happily alongside each other. There will always be enough room for both sides and neither are a threat to each other in my opinion

By: Morals and Ethics and Carnal Forbearance - Scottish Roundup

Morals and Ethics and Carnal Forbearance - Scottish Roundup — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 18:58:35 +0000

[...] such reticence for the Roundup’s very own Duncan, who makes it into the Sunday Herald this [...]

By: doctorvee

doctorvee — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 14:10:10 +0000

Yup, I have to agree — it’s one of the best articles about blogging I have seen. A good balance of optimistic and negative views, it’s got a pretty realistic take on blogging as a whole. It makes a change because normally articles are really sneering or they’ve got their heads in the clouds about blogging.

PJ — I hope you’re right about blogging making politics in Scotland more engaging. The great tragedy about all the cutbacks in the Scottish media is not just that it’s happening, but that it’s happening during the devolution process. Politicians need more of an eye on them, not less. In that sense, it would be great if bloggers could step up to the plate.

Jeff — Web stats is a complete minefield. ’0 seconds’ is a classic example. Of course most visitors will stay for longer than 0 seconds, but there’s no way of telling. As you say, I’m more interested nowadays in who links to me rather than the figures.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 13:14:38 +0000

I think it’s an excellent article, plenty of food for thought.

Have to agree about the perils of stat numbers, the number of people who stay on my blog for all of ’0 seconds’ kind of takes away from the otherwise attractive numbers I’m enjoying. As a result, I personally try not to take it too seriously other than to see if anyone’s linking in to my site from somewhere unexpected.