ABC, WashingtonPost, Join Blogosphere
- by Shankar Gupta , September 20, 2005
On Monday, ABCNews.com launched three blogs--one for coverage of Washington, D.C., one for science and technology developments, and one for news related to the U.S. Supreme Court. CBS entered the blogosphere last month with a blog dubbed "The Public Eye," where 'nonbudsman' Vaughn Ververs aims to demystify the reporting process behind CBS News' online stories. And starting today, famed opinion journalist Andrew Sullivan will be "guest blogging" through the end of the week on the opinion pages of WashingtonPost.com, with his top entry syndicated in full, and links to his other entries appearing below.
The purpose of the blogging feature, said The Washington Post's Special Projects Editor Hal Straus, is to showcase Sullivan's online writings. "His blog is sort of the public face, where he does most of his writing," he said. "This way, we're really displaying what he's doing on the Web."
Sullivan was selected, Straus said, because he isn't merely a news aggregator. "Our priority was to find someone who is actually making arguments, and who isn't just collecting opinions, but coming up with them," he said. "He's someone who has been doing this for a long time, he does have a bit of a Washington focus, and we think he's an interesting figure."
ABC News' blogs went live on Monday, although the reporters have apparently been blogging since last week. The first posts are dated Sept. 15, but weren't accessible Web-wide until this week. The three blogs--"Down and Dirty," by Washington Correspondent Jake Trapper, "Science and Society," by Science Correspondent Ned Potter, and "Order in the Court," by Supreme Court Correspondent Manny Medrano--aim to allow the reporters a more direct line of communication with their readers. The blogs are written in a more candid and conversational tone than their other work for ABCNews.com, and each blog has a moderated comments section.
