This week I've been invited by Don Dunnington, President of the IAOC, to animate a discussion on the IAOC blog about "Blogging Europe", each day will be a different topic and 4/5 countries will react and give their point of view. Why not share this here with you in the same time, knowing that you can go on the IAOC blog also if you want.
Below is the first overview I've been providing on the Day 1 topic's: Blogs and journalism.
The first media to enter the blogosphere have been national dailies like Libération and Le Monde.
Amazingly it wasn't to cover national news, but Libération made it's first step in the blogosphere to cover the US presidential campaign... thanks to a french corespondant based in the US during the campaign.
Then IT publications launched their blog and awareness began to raise around this new model of communication.
We don't have our Dan Gillmor in France, although we have some french journalist regular author of very interesting and well written blogs.
What is the traditional model as we see it merging ? First step, online publication begin to publish articles including progressively URL links, first of all on their own content, and then outgoing links. The notion of permalinks also wins awareness and article becomes more and more easy to find and access. Next step is to hire a journalist that will be blogging in the name of the publication, give access to his blog from the home page and then add another one, and another one... The last step from now is when the publication is opening a blogging portal, offers a blog to his subscribers or to anyone who is willing to do it.
The first IT publication to embrace the blogosphere has been VNU with SVM's and PC Expert's blogs. VNU has also been launching a blog portal, where anyone can open and host his blog. The portal has been launched several month ago, today 479 blogs are active. Le Monde also has it's blog portal, but doesn't give information on how many are active.
I don't feel french journalist see bloggers are a threat for them as both are really playing different games. The complementarity and the different approach has been visible since the very begining, probably thanks to what happened in the US previously, mainly with the bloggers accreditation during the presidential campaign. This could never have happen in France, people have been really surprise to see that in the US and everyone swared that could never be the same here. The difference between journalist and grassroots journalism is really clearly identified, and I don't see any blogger pretending to do anything else than citizen journalism. More over, no journalist till now left his job to be full time blogger...
I believe it would be possible to generate full time revenu only thanks to blogging for a journalist who might wants to launch it "personal publication". But we have since few weeks our "Ohmynews" with Agoravox, a grassroots journalism initiative, where every european citizen can share his vision of the news as if he was a reporter, but it is clearly said that citizen are behind, even if the banner says "become a reporter", what I wouldn't have had recomend to do...
We also have our first Nanopublishing experience thanks to The Social Media Group and it's several blogzines as le blog auto about cars, le blog jardin about gardening, more than 15 blogs on various topics, following the path of Gizmodo. The business model is certainly the same as the one you have in the US, generating revenu thanks to advertising.
And what about the situation in your country ? Is it a fading trend ?
In China lots of young people use msn spaces as their personal weblog vehicule. generally they talk about daily life, feelings,and sentimental things.
there's another category of blog, which you can easily find in the campus of big universities. students talk about politics, actual events, or beauties on these blogs.
I haven't seen any blog which unite the CEOs in China yet, maybe it'll come soon...
Posted by: jin | June 14, 2005 at 12:45 PM
hi i'm a student that wants to do my post graduate studies in journalism in france and need some advice..
Posted by: Jacob | July 04, 2005 at 09:53 PM
Hi
Please keep us in touch with how this conference progresses. I feel the use of blogging tools will soon advance so that the technology is utilised, but design will move on. So that viewers believe that they are reading a website with the latest news as opposed to a blog.
Posted by: Craig McGinty | July 19, 2005 at 08:17 PM