L'uso dei blog da parte dei media
Molti giornali credono che sfruttare l'immediatezza dei blog possa fornire ai lettori un buon servizio e certamente è vero, ma la tendenza si sta trasformando in un abuso del mezzo e spesso la quantità non è indice di qualità.
Here are some numbers based on my analysis of publications I read on a regular basis:
- New York Times: 68 blogs. Its Blogs Directory shows the best possible arrangement. Those guys clearly believe in the blog medium and their news staff of 1,200 provides great quality and a good mix between serious and more entertaining fare. Some are more than mere blogs: the excellent Dealbook, manned by a staff of 16, is more like a business site than a blog. Or Lens is my favorite spot for photojournalism as it rises above the level of an ordinary blog.
- The same goes for The Guardian (61 blogs). Its baseline says it all: "The sharpest writing, the liveliest debate". (Plus, OK, The Guardian hosts a small set of independent blogs such as The Monday Note...)
- High on the score (quantitatively speaking) is the Washington Post (102 blogs), with a weird focus on religion thanks to an ecumenical catalog of 13 blogs.
- WSJ.com has 54 blogs, officially. Plus what looks like a cemetery of 45 more. On the WSJ.com blogs home page, click on the Most Popular or Commented and the Latest; you'll see which ones are the most active (Washington Wire on politics and the entertainment blog Speakeasy). This should make business pundits even more modest...
A random sample shows that a large number of blogs doesn't equate with great quality. Too many blogs hosted by large media brands seem loose or rarely updated. That's why a few specialised outlets prefer to focus on a small number of blogs: the FT.com (only 14 blogs) or the Economist (23 blogs) have opted for a selective approach – which more often ensures a better execution overall.