“I Really Need You to Read this Article, Okay?”
Joel Achenbach was the very first blogger for The Washington Post.
He wrote an article about the future of journalism and online journalism. He believes that although print writing may be dying down a little, online journaling is going to be very popular because of its immediacy.
He explains that although much of the news in the print papers is old upon arrival, that online news is new and fresh. It can be uploaded instantaneously, which makes it a very valuable form of news.
He later goes on to talk about the importance of getting news out, even if it is not popular or good news. Achenbach says that readers need to be informed about what is going on in the world and that online journalism is the best tool to do this.
Achenbach writes that
“There’s a favorite saying in the news biz: “Nothin’ but readers.” Meaning: That’s a story that readers are going to devour. A water-cooler story. We used to discern such articles through gut instinct. The best editors had a “golden gut” for news.”
He is making the point that people will read what they find interesting and the headlines that catch their attention.
As a blogger, you need to find creative ways to make yourself stand out and make people want to read what you have to say.
One really interesting thing about this article on The Washington Post‘s website was that Achenbach sectioned off different points with asterisks to make his story easier to follow. When blogging, it may not be a bad idea to have similar ways to make the portions of a blog easier to focus on.
He ends with a note saying
“Here’s a proposition: News outlets will never get anywhere if they’re obsessed with chasing readers. They can, however, collaborate with them. And therein lies a hopeful future for the business.”
Achenbach realizes that by trying hard to gain an audience, he may not be getting his best points across and that he should write in a way that tells a story and reports on a topic, rather than finding the less important stories that viewers may just find fun reads.
In conclusion, if you write about things of importance or that mean something to you, you will be more successful than trying to make everyone happy.
