The Baltimore Sun is the "illustrious" newspaper from my hometown. Baltimore has taken on the self proclaimed nickname of "The City That Reads." From these two statements, one would assume that the Baltimore Sun has been holding readership in this age of floundering print media. This would be a false assumption.
As of April 2009, readership was down almost ten percent from the previous year. The Sun hasn't released any more recent statistics because, one can only assume, they are not getting any better. As someone from Baltimore, I can safely say that I do not lament my parents decision to cancel our subscription. When my father called the hotline to cancel, he was essentially begged to downgrade to a weekend-only subscription for a fraction of the price. The Sun is not informative. Half of the daily paper is comics and sports.
This brings us to the question of whether or not Baltimore can any longer justify being called The City That Reads. It seems like a more fitting slogan is the ever-popular "City That Reeds" in recognition of the Baltimore Raven's Pro-Bowl Safety, Ed Reed.
One thing that I know is that The Sun has been trying to put an emphasis on its Web site.,pparently looking to become the City That Browses. Because of this I took some time to browse through the site and I was not impressed. My last post was all about the world of blogging. I decided to take an in depth look at The Sun's blog page. Once again, I was not impressed. The majority of the posts are extremely short and uninformative. It's more like an opinion blog than a professional news site. A few of the posts that were linked on the Web site were fantastic and I thoroughly enjoyed reading them, but the vast majority were an extreme letdown.
I love Baltimore with all my heart. I have been a devoted reader of The Sun since entering high school. I am afraid however, that Baltimore is no longer the City That Reads, and it's going to take much more effort to turn it into the City That Browses. For now, let's stick with the City That Reeds.
Posted by Jordan Powell
Monday, April 12, 2010
Monday, April 5, 2010
What is it with this whole blogging thing?
This is a question I found myself asking repeatedly over the past year or so. I thought that blogs were something that, well, weird kids did do share their emotions with each other. It was just another outlet for goths and loners to be angry at the world.
This might've been true when blogs first appeared years ago, but it is far from the truth now. Sure there are people who use blogs as a personal diary or journal or diary, but who am I to judge them for that? It turns out that they were far ahead of the curve.
I've had to write this blog for a journalism class and it has been a blessing in disguise. I can safely say after a couple months at this that blogging is the future.
Here's a couple reasons why I say this:
1. Blogging is easy.
If you have a computer and internet, you can become a blogger.
2. Blogging is free.
The simplest forms of blogs, like the one I'm using now, is completely free. Once you get into more advanced blogs with advertisements that could change.
3. Blogs are accessible everywhere.
It's just as easy, if not easier, to access a blog as it is to write one. All you need is an internet connection--Starbucks has this for free too--and you can read any blog you'd like.
Now it may be a little confusing when I say "the future." What I mean to say is that blogging is quickly becoming the future of media.
In class last week, we met two journalists that had started a community blog pro bono. Their blog, Chapel Hill Watch, covers topics such as town meetings and local events all for free! It really is an amazing advancement in media.
This is just one example of the endless supply of news blogs that are on the internet.
Some of the more notable sites include the Huffington Post and Michelle Malkin's blog.
Blogging infinitely expands the capabilities of media. The problem will be finding people like Don Evans or Nancy Oates--from Chapel Hill Watch--that will do it for free or finding a way to make blogging profitable.
We've already found the next medium. Now we just need to make it work.
Posted by Jordan Powell
This might've been true when blogs first appeared years ago, but it is far from the truth now. Sure there are people who use blogs as a personal diary or journal or diary, but who am I to judge them for that? It turns out that they were far ahead of the curve.
I've had to write this blog for a journalism class and it has been a blessing in disguise. I can safely say after a couple months at this that blogging is the future.
Here's a couple reasons why I say this:
1. Blogging is easy.
If you have a computer and internet, you can become a blogger.
2. Blogging is free.
The simplest forms of blogs, like the one I'm using now, is completely free. Once you get into more advanced blogs with advertisements that could change.
3. Blogs are accessible everywhere.
It's just as easy, if not easier, to access a blog as it is to write one. All you need is an internet connection--Starbucks has this for free too--and you can read any blog you'd like.
Now it may be a little confusing when I say "the future." What I mean to say is that blogging is quickly becoming the future of media.
In class last week, we met two journalists that had started a community blog pro bono. Their blog, Chapel Hill Watch, covers topics such as town meetings and local events all for free! It really is an amazing advancement in media.
This is just one example of the endless supply of news blogs that are on the internet.
Some of the more notable sites include the Huffington Post and Michelle Malkin's blog.
Blogging infinitely expands the capabilities of media. The problem will be finding people like Don Evans or Nancy Oates--from Chapel Hill Watch--that will do it for free or finding a way to make blogging profitable.
We've already found the next medium. Now we just need to make it work.
Posted by Jordan Powell
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