Jay Rosen (PressThink) announced an expansion to his blog yesterday: the Blue Plate Special. Written primarily by students in his blogging 101 class, the new feature will start later this month. He writes:
"Our intent in the debut is to execute well upon a basic form in journalism: the snapshot, or state-of-the-art report. The first one will be about blogging at American newspapers. Newspapers are definitely past the “let’s start some blogs” stage, but what stage are they at? Where’s the action, traction, and satisfaction in the growing world of newspaper blogs? NYU students and I, joined by a few special guests, pros and amateurs, will try to find out."
For me, this new blog will be an interesting counterpoint to Robert French’s (infOpinions) student PR blogs and the way French uses his own blog to teach his PR and media classes at Auburn University.
These NYU and Auburn students, on either side of the "media relations" coin, have some meaty issues on their plate, and I’m looking forward to their perpectives on the "BIG" questions that consume so many of our blogging hours.
Questions like:
What is the responsibility of a blogger to fact check? Is it different if the blogger is also a professional journalist? Just exactly what defines "professional" — getting paid? quality of writing? affiliations, whether paid or pro bono? Not always the same thing.
What is the role of PR in the new media mix? How is it evolving as the media themselves are changing… from pen and ink to bits and bytes? Is it? How should companies, and their PR people, engage with bloggers?
It’s nice to hear new voices, from people just beginning their professional journeys. Hopefully, in watching, and helping, them learn, we’ll learn a few things ourselves.
Tags: Media, Blogs, Blogging, PR, Public Relations, Journalism