Wednesday, August 31, 2005

Blogger's Back with Some Fresh Bubba
A busy first week of school has made for light blogging this week, along with horrific news to talk about in class... but here's a little good news -- that SouthKnox Bubba has returned, in his secret identity as "R Neal," standing in for a week at the Facing South weblog.

It's temporary, but he's doing a few of the things that attracted me to his old blog, and should be a good way to start a discussion in class. What's he doing?
  • Watching the news and pointing out stop-you-in-your-tracks images in words: "...seeing someone with the remains of a loved one they can't even bury, wrapped in sheets, waiting by a flooded road for someone to tell them what to do with the body..."

  • Adding some "local knowledge" background about a recent issue, in this case racial tension in at a nearby high school: "Most of Blount County's relatively small minority population (2.9% black and 94.7% white compared to 16.4% black and 80.2% white statewide), resides in a small area within the city of Alcoa. Approx. 58% of the county[base ']s black high school students attend Alcoa High School (30% black and 70% white)... The others remain mostly white (Heritage High 98%, William Blount High 96%, and Maryville High 93% white enrollment). Given those statistics, you[base ']d think the recent racial tensions began in Alcoa. You[base ']d be wrong."

  • Doing some original interviewing: Six questions for Tennessee State Senator Rosalind Kurita.

  • Hosting "comment" discussions at the end of each post. (Comments aren't the full-blown "Bubba Blab" of old, but here's its independent successor, KnoxBlab.)

  • Sharing excellent original photographs, now at "rviews.com."
The first three items I've listed (and more) are SKB's contributions as a guest blogger this week for the "Facing South" blog in Durham, N.C. The rviews photo journal appears to be his new online home, and I certainly look forward to more birds, more nature and travel shots, and (I hope) a return of his funny, pointed Photoshop creations or captioned collections like his tourist photo-essay of Pigeon Forge he had on his old site.

Journalism students should take a look at all of the above. Unlike the "news writing" we start you out with in journalism schools (the style that traditionally can help you find a newspaper or broadcast news job), most bloggers don't miind mixing personal or political opinions with their reports -- but most who do mix it up also make it clear where they're coming from. (Note the not-subtle subtitle of Facing South, "blogging for a progressive South.") The "older media" often portray bloggers as couch potatoes in pajamas typing out political rants or personal trivia, but there are many who do try live , personal reporting in fresh ways.

Some local blogs for comparison include law prof Glenn Reynolds' Instapundit (clear perspective, but no reader-comments -- legions of link-followers probably would sink the computer), and pro-journalist bloggers like Michael Silence and Katie Allison Granju.

Here's a whole Rocky Top Brigade of links for further inspection.

8:56:42 PM    

© Copyright 2005 Bob Stepno .
Last update: 8/31/05; 9:36:27 PM .

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