It’s still pretty unheard of in India—the whole concept of editorial blogs, where reporters, photographers, editors ventilate on any and every issue under the sun, especially that which happens in their very universe. So, journalists who want to blog (or who should) have little or no guidance on how to go about it. And are way too vain to ask.
But here’s help. Dallas Morning News Editorial Page Editor Keven Ann Willey who led her staff in launching America’s first editorial page blog, provides these suggestions to journalists on how to blog, culled from a piece on American Journalism Review:
1. Be brief and informal. Breezy, conversational tone is good. Two hundred words is too long. Go for the quick hit, light touch, witty aside. Attitude required.
2. Don’t be too proud to blog.
3. Respond to previous blog postings. This is about conversation, after all. It’s the back and forth that makes a blog engaging.
4. Vary your topics. Don’t be a wonk.
5. Don’t write anything you wouldn’t want your mother to read in the paper.
6. Use hyperlinks.
7. Incorporate interesting, provocative reader e-mail. The best blogs are two-way streets.
8. Be quick to correct yourself.
9. Don’t feel obligated to answer all blog-generated e-mail.
10. Don’t over edit; but designate a blog boss.
