Bloggers

Do news blogs really work? Most sites have them for politics, education, crime, columnists, lifestyle reviews, etc.

These electronic diaries are sort of like the new media version of what used to be called the reporter’s notebook, where papers would print sidebars of the interesting information that didn’t fit into the main story.

Using them as reporters’ notebooks, helps to belie ethical fears that reporters will logon and bash coworkers and sources. And while newsblogs can be written with a little more attitude and voice, they still must confirm to the standards of journalistic writing, meaning attribution and fact-checking.

But with the Web’s endless users, do the 500 page views the SunSentinel’s youtube, politics page received really constitute a success? Is it worth the reporter’s time?