Online Journalism News

So pretty soon the BP editorial team will be three web monkeys and a dozen 'bloggers' sending in copy for free. Is that the distant sounding of the death knell for the newspaper/the journalist I can hear?

Geoffrey, Have you seen the BP site? Have you seen the posts by our bloggers? I think the BP blogging team (http://blogs.birminghampost.net) is providing fantastic complementary content to the stories written by our journalists. Those bloggers who are not employed as journalists by BP do not write stories for us. I suspect they wouldn't be too keen to take on that role either. They all have interesting, important jobs to do elsewhere (which is what makes them good bloggers).

Geoffrey, if you take a good look at the blog section (which is only one section of the site, after all) you'll see that there are at least half a dozen BP journalists blogging on there. The rest are distinguished academics, heads of companies, senior executives or community leaders. In Peter Ashton, they have one of the UK's top bloggers. If the BP had simply recruited angry letter-writer-turned-online polemicists (and I'm sure they have turned down a few already), then you might have a point. As it is, I think you can rest assured about the future of newspapers and journalists. The BP are showing how newspapers can survive by turning the 'threat' from citizen journalists into strength in depth. They have made the paper the best place to go to find out what the city's best talents are thinking and doing.

Geoffrey, What a tired perspective. I've been journalist for 25 years. This is the most exciting stage for journalism I've come across. So much change, so much opportunity, so much skill and talent to be unleashed. Sit back and enjoy a journalistic renaissance.