Blue Collar Muse

It’s interesting to watch any person or group of people wrestle with hard truths about themselves. If you happen to be that person or in that group it goes beyond interesting and can hit “painful” rather rapidly! Yet truthful and legitimate self evaluation is both healthy and vital for survival and adapatation regardless of how painful it is or how embarassing it may be to serve as entertainment for others. The upside often includes, among other things, the ability to move in new and previously unconsidered directions and enjoy the benefits therein.

I was privileged to take part in the exploitation, in the good sense, of such an upside by journalists and media types at the Online News Association (ONA) seminar at Vanderbilt’s John Siegenthaler Freedom Forum. I found out about it in a left handed way. I sent Jack Lail an invitation to something and he invited me to attend ONA’s seminar. I’m glad I did.

In all honesty, the gathering wasn’t for bloggers and so I was more than a bit out of my element and league. John Siegenthaler himself had some brief remarks and the keynote was delivered by Janet Coats, Executive Editor of The Tampa Tribune who is responsible for the content of not only the Tribune but the news content of one of the network TV stations for the market as well. So how did I end up there?

Because while the seminar wasn’t aimed at bloggers per se, it made great strides in welcoming and appointing bloggers to their rightful place in news and reporting - in journalism. While the seminar’s two tracks addressed the needs and interest of online journalism from the perspective of the MSM’s need to utilize online tools and practices to compete and be relevant in a changing news marketplace, the conversation concerning them was often indistinguishable from those you might hear at any blogger meet-up: links, monetization, audience and community building, comments and more. On a couple of occasions it was like I had entered Bizarro World and was listening in on a conversation among exceptionally well funded and experienced bloggers!

Blogger relevance was not limited to lip service to online newsies poorer cousins, however. Beyond Janet Coats and a number of other representatives from print and TV, several bloggers were given panel assignments and delivered excellence! Not only was their contribution a high point to the seminar, but the bloggers so slated were some of the men and women I have followed online for some time but had not yet met. I thus enjoyed a blogging “two-fer” wherein I got to hear AND meet these folks. Michael Silence, Jack Lail, Katie Allison Granju and Christian Grantham are media bloggers from news organizations around the state. Rex Hammock and Tammy Marcoullier are MSM types who have embraced blogging as a viable tool and medium.

While it is true there were no pure bloggers on panels, and as delightful as that might have been to see, it wasn’t the purpose of the seminar. ONA is, at least for now, the domain of traditional news sources who are moving online as their marketplace evolves. What was exciting was not only the inclusion of so many media bloggers as panelists and peers of their newsroom counterparts, but the inclusion of so many bloggers as members of the audience. Clearly there is a recognition among traditional media that blogging is a viable component in news gathering and reporting and that bloggers are viable colleagues.

Beyond the panel members providing content, I was privileged to meet other bloggers I knew by reputation only but can now put face with name. Some got handshakes from me (one got a big hug) but I was delighted to meet the irrepressible NewsComa as well as Enclave’s Mike Byrd. ACK from Post Politics was in attendance as well after scooping everyone else all day long. The seminar being scheduled on a Friday was likely the main reason for poorer attendance by bloggers, most of whom work elsewhere. From experience I can say that there would have been great interest in this from the blogging community.

In the end, it was a great experience. Meeting colleagues new and old, and a professionally delightful atmosphere created by our hosts at Vanderbilt only added to the value. I would urge bloggers to consider membership in ONA in the event they want to seriously pursue their interest in news and blogging. And watch for more of these in Tennessee. There is nothing on the books at the moment but those I talked to agreed we needed more of what went on.

Blue

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This entry was posted on Monday, February 2nd, 2009 at 10:47 am and is filed under Blogging, Blogroll, Business, Internet Interests, MSM, Nashville Nuggets. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.