Blog Posts v Articles

Hi Cinque
Just checked out your blog. It's beautiful. You've been at this game much longer than I have and I'm grateful to hear your thoughts. Like you, I often use my blog as a space to try out ideas for full-length articles. On occasion, editors have even commissioned me to write articles based on blog posts they came across while browsing the Web or my site. I try not to agonize too much over blog posts though as I write one every day (except at the weekends) and like the idea of the form as being more spontaneous than what might appear in a regular media venue. I personally don't distinguish between the blogs that appear on the New York Times' or Wired's websites. The fact that the blog posts have these big media outlets to back them up gives them instant credibility it's true. But we all know that the people who are writing these posts are overworked journalists trying to squeeze blogging in in between reporting stuff for the magazines and newspapers. I'd be surprised if they were getting paid anything extra to blog. This puts them on the same playing field, in my opinion, as many other serious bloggers.
Chloe

Sasha
Thanks for your valuable comments. I think a day comes in every blogger's life when he or she realizes that people are actually reading their blogposts. For most people, this is a moment of triumph mixed with trepidation. With the latter feeling -- a kind of mini-shock -- comes the sensation that one can't just slap whatever one wants up on the Internet and that everything that a blogger writes has consequences, like it or not. Regardless of that, the most important thing for any blogger who wants to be taken seriously is to combine accuracy with stylistic flair. Obviously, with the time constraints involved, this can be tricky. I try as hard as I can to double-check my facts, and write as beautifully as I can. But sometimes, no matter how hard I try, I don't quite get there. I do my best, certainly. And to play safe, because I don't often get time to do original reporting on blog posts, I often include lines like "according to such such in the New York Times..." or "several people have told me that..."
Needles to say, the form is in its infancy and we are all still feeling our way.
Chloe

Through my blogging "career" (haha!), my own thinking has changed on this. I now think of what I write as much more article-ish, if not actual articles. Some of my early posts, going back to 2003, wouldn't even be recognizable under this rubric.

The change has occurred mainly because 1) I started to realize that people were actually reading what I wrote, and like it or not, words written down anywhere tend to take the halo of truth even if meant as a casual, off-the-cuff remark; and 2) I've begun to think of my blog as a space for trying out pre-articles as I work on larger, more formal articles that will appear in print.

Plus with every mainstream mag now accompanied by a blog, the posts there essentially are articles. They may be written in a more casual voice, but if it says "Time" or "Wired" at the top of the page, that post has all the cultural weight of an article.

I see the distinction exactly as you have worded it. The questions that blogging raise for me are, however, perplexing and I'd love to know what you think. For example, if a blog has the potential to damage somebody lightly or to disturb the signing of a contract or to be part of any kind of future action with an unknown or known negative consequence, how obligated are you to check, double check and triple check your information? Is it useful to couch your blog in "this is what I've heards" or "the gossip mill is spewing such and such"?

We are still feeling our way on fact checking, it seems. My guess is that those whose blog posts consistently deliver the truth to the very best of the bloggers' abilities will rise to the top. When it comes to breaking news, this is essential. This is harder to do without an editor and in the speedy world of blogging, the pressure is fierce to release "the news" as soon as you get it. No?

What are your standards?
Best,
Sasha Anawalt