Lake Neuron

This week’s “Blogger Idol” theme is “Why [insert occupation here] should blog.”

I’m a journalist, although I’m currently going through some serious questioning about what my next career should be. Since I haven’t answered that question, I’m stuck in journalism. Journalism and blogging are uneasy partners; journalists, being writers, would seem to take naturally to blogging, but some of them have gotten into serious trouble by second-guessing their employers or compromising their integrity in this type of alternate forum. For example, a journalist might have a story spiked, heavily edited or delayed, and might disagree with his editors about the reasons for doing this. The journalist then vents his frustration by blogging about the story in his own private forum, and that causes embarrassment to everyone involved. Or a journalist who tries hard to be objective and fair in print betrays his private political leanings in his private blog, and compromises the editorial integrity of the newspaper.

It’s for reasons like these that I generally avoid posting about work-related topics in this forum, except in a few isolated and non-controversial cases.

The Blogger Idol web site, in the post setting up this week’s topic, has links to several posts about occupational blogging, including a terrific blog entry by Tim Porter in defense of journalists being allowed to blog. Porter steals some of the points I might have otherwise made in this post. Here’s a terrific quote from Porter:

Newspapers need more creativity, not less; they need their reporters and editors to be more expressive, not less. Newspapers should do all they can to encourage their staff members to as creative as possible outside the office with the hope that this energy returns to the newsroom.

Blogging is writing. Blogging is photography. Blogging is communicating. These are all good things for newspapers.

Amen. I can certainly understand how specific instances of work-related blogging could cause problems for journalists, but I think it’s important that journalism organizations not react to these problems with a ham-handed prohibition of blogging in general.

It would be hard to prove it from my actual blog entries, which are sometimes rushed and sloppy, but I believe blogging helps make me a better writer. And writing is an important part of journalism. (It’s the part I love, which is part of my vocational hand-wringing.) I try not to make this a “dear diary” sort of blog, but it does include personal experience. That’s cathartic, especially for someone who’s single and doesn’t have a life partner to talk to. At the same time, I don’t have to feel as if I’m imposing on anyone; you can read if you’re interested and walk away (or skip to the next entry) if you’re not, and I’m none the wiser. I do worry that I might drive people off if the blog becomes too much about the minutiae of my life.

Anyway, I seem to have wandered afield. I think blogging can be beneficial to journalists for many of the same reasons it’s beneficial to non-journalists. It’s a way to communicate with the world, to start a conversation, to share ideas, to blow off a little steam. With some discretion and common sense, it can be productive and enjoyable.