By Pauline Word
Messenger Editor

Like it or not, blogging is a new phenomenon that has allowed anyone with a computer to be a publisher.

A blogger is someone who writes a Web log or journal. The stereotypical image of a blogger is an unshaven guy in pajamas pecking away at his home computer and posting random thoughts on his Web site for the world to see. Most citizen blogs have no rules or boundaries and are largely unedited collections of news items and columns.

A Google search for blogs turns up 1.13 billion hits.

But blogging may be gaining new legitimacy as newspapers begin tapping into this Internet trend.

Many Texas daily newspapers have bona fide blogs written by their own staff members that may be picked up from the print edition but often are more free-flowing and step outside traditional journalism.

But a handful of Texas newspapers have taken the blog concept one step further and now allow readers to post content on the newspaper’s Web site as a citizen blog. The new concept seems to be filling a void for community news that typically is not covered in most daily newspapers’ print editions.

Weekly newspapers have long used citizens and readers to fill gaps in their print coverage, but daily newspapers are catching on and using readers to beef up their online content and allowing average citizens to become publishers of sorts.

One of the most popular blog features on Texas newspaper Web sites appears to be photo galleries where readers post their own photographs, ranging from community events to personal snapshots.

The Austin American-Statesman launched its reader blog sites Statesmanblogs.com and Austin360blogs.com in October covering current events, Longhorns, weather, arts, food & drink, movies, music and TV. Another blog-like feature on the Statesman’s site already has more than 400 citizen submissions — “Dog show” where readers submit their dogs’ photos.

The Victoria Advocate has 14 regular citizen bloggers and The Beaumont Enterprise has two reader blogs and three staff blogs.

The Houston Chronicle has chron.Commons a whole area for reader posts. The Chronicle recently was named best newspaper blogging site among the nation’s largest 100 papers by PressThink, a blog about journalism written by New York University profesor Jay Rosen, who ranked the sites along with his journalism students.

The San Antonio Express-News came in sixth on the PressThink list. The newspaper, which operates its Web site MySanAntonio.com jointly with KENS-TV, has Pix Share, a blog where readers post their own pictures.

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram has DFWjournalist for reader-submitted photos. The Star-Telegram also has expanded on the blog concept and allows readers to post comments on staff-written news stories at the end of select articles. The comments are more immediate and accessible than a traditional letter to the editor, many of which are never printed.

The Corpus Christi Caller-Times has experts.caller.com where panelists from varied fields such as insurance, pest control and automobiles answer questions from readers.

The Blogosphere

So what does all this mean to newspapers?

Steve Outing, a senior editor at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies and an interactive media columnist for Editor and Publisher Online, wrote an 11-step explanation of citizen journalism and blogging for Poynter last summer.

The article makes it clear that blogging still is a new concept in transition.

“In my conversations and communications with editors, I sense plenty of confusion about the concept. There’s enthusiasm about experimenting in some quarters — about harnessing the power of an audience permitted for the first time to truly participate in the news media. But mostly I hear concern and healthy skepticism,” Outing wrote.

Citizen blogs certainly raise a newspaper’s awareness and branding in the community and may bring in readers who otherwise feel disengaged.

But Outing wrote that many blogs appear to have little staying power.

“Most news Web sites that have used citizen bloggers report that the blogs tend to be short-lived; starting out strong is common, followed by less-frequent posting, then complete inactivity,” Outing wrote. “Paying citizen bloggers — even if it’s a token amount, or in the form of prizes or ‘goodies’ — might help to alleviate this problem.”

Kelly McBride, ethics group leader at Poynter, wrote a column recently pointing out other dangers in putting citizen blogs under a newspaper’s umbrella.

“It’s great that newspapers host these sites. It’s a wonderful service for community. They are often interesting, vibrant and exciting,” McBride wrote. “But it’s not journalism. So don’t call it that. Journalism is an independent act of gathering and assembling information by an organization. The work is completed in service of the audience. The journalists’ loyalties are with the reader and viewer.”

Whether the blog concept will stick and help drive traffic to newspapers’ Web sites remains uncertain but it’s a start in the right direction to reach more readers..

According to a recent Gallup poll just 9 percent of Internet users read blogs frequently, 11 percent occasionally, 13 percent rarely, and 66 percent never, and “reading blogs” ranked last in a list of 13 common Internet activities, below emailing, checking news and weather, and shopping.