Newspaper blogs don't foster public dialogue

Art Martone's Sox Blog is a prime example of how a blog based at a MSM daily can do a great job with blogging. Martone is a super-informed baseball observer, his blog is updated frequently, and it's chock full of posts of interest to Sox enthusiasts.

Yet some of us in the local blogosphere continue to wonder why the ProJo, which has a three-person State House staff and a number of other talented staffers who write about politics, does such a lame job with its Politics Blog -- which is rarely updated and consists mostly of reprinting Political Scene.

Now, a new study out of Ball State University (h/t Romenesko) finds that newspapers are generally doing a poor job with their political blogs.

Newspapers will have to change the way they approach blogging if they are going to be a force in increasing public dialogue on political issues, says a new study from Ball State University.

A study of blogs and audience engagement during the week before the fall 2006 elections found that most newspaper staff-produced blogs contained a small number of postings, failed to create much interaction between the blogger and the audience and attracted few audience comments.

In the review of 360 newspapers, Ball State journalism professors Lori Demo and Mary Spillman, found that 42 percent of newspapers had blogs with political content but discovered commitment to blogging widely varied.

"Political blogs are seen as providing a meeting place for journalists interested in promoting the democratic process and readers looking for a chance to share observation and beliefs," Demo said. "These blogs offer individuals an opportunity to communicate outside the dominant media structure found in news stories, staff columns and letters to the editor. To be as effective as some of the more popular citizen-produced blogs, however, newspaper versions must attract an audience and generate a conversation.

"This study provides a snapshot of an emerging newspaper feature during a five-day period before a national election. While much has been written about blogs' potential to save democracy and revive journalism, this picture of newspapers' blog posts does little to support that notion."

The ProJo's lack of a better political blog is all the more surprising given the recognition on Fountain Street that the Web represents the future of the newspaper.

Yet as P+J report this week, the ProJo is apparently focused on ramping up a less than newsy part of projo.com.

It’s P+J’s understanding that Tom Heslin, the Other Paper’s Web ubermensch, has announced that a new women’s portal is in the works, and that it will feature all sorts of hard-hitting featurettes, with titles like “Let’s Chat,” “All About Me,” and “Blush.”
 
Ooooooh, your superior correspondents haven’t been this excited since we received a DVD boxed set of the entire run of The View for Christmas, darlings! To quote from an unsigned (for sooooo many reasons) in-house memo for the aforementioned “Blush” briefing get-together on Fountain Street, “This session will cover such topics as Romance, Dating, Celebrity, Astrology, Surprise, Buzz, Inspire Me!, E-postcards, For Men Only — The Other Team’s Playbook, and anything else you think might appeal to women (and men!) as individuals. When you sign up for this session, think Cosmo, Glamour, Self, Lucky magazines”
 
Wheeee! “Glamour Dos and Don’ts” all around!