PR assignment - Winnipeg bloggers should come together

Since I started the Creative Communications program I have been encouraged – more like obligated – to post once a week on the topic of my choice, in my case, music. I am glad that I was encouraged to do this because it has opened my eyes to think of blogging in a completely different light.

The early years of communications

In the early days people would get their news from a printer paper, they would communicate through Morse Code, and would send letters via snail-mail. A lot has changed since then, and it is not about to stop.

Print media

Print media is in deep trouble right now; largely because people are getting their news online. The cost of delivering the newspaper is so immense that the Winnipeg Free Press has even decided to stop delivering the paper on Sundays so that they can save millions of dollars. Yes, they will save millions in just one day (based on an interview with Free Press spokespersons on CBC Radio).

Watch the Free Press publisher explain to the public why they have chosen to not deliver the paper on Sundays, and not give their readers a discount on their membership.



Will blogging change journalism?

I believe that there is a better place for blogging. I think that it may even change the way we think of a reporter, and maybe even journalism. The basic idea is that if you have freelance reporters updating a blog – for which they would get paid for – we could then use their content to fill part of a “blog-newspaper”. One blogger could cover City Council, the other could cover entertainment, sports, and so on. This, of course, would all be available on one handy-dandy website. As well, these bloggers would remain objective at all times. Or in the case of a column, they would not.

What is a reader?

If the blog-newspaper idea is still unclear, you can watch the video below for an explanation on RSS.



What are you doing about it?

After evaluating the blogging-newspaper idea, I started to think about my own blog and realized that my blog should not only entertain, but it should also do some kind of a public service. Maybe I could focus more on local artist who prefer to eat rather than spend hundreds of dollars promoting their band - who knows. I will have to continue pondering on it.

Isn't there something like that already?

I have yet to come across a revolutionary RSS reader, and I am unaware of any type of website like I have just described. It might be because newsreaders still need a lot of work, but once perfected, it will make it extremely easy to put together something like this. Why visit only one blog at a time when you could select which journalist you think is more trustworthy, reliable, and have it displayed on your customized blogger-newspaper? Or even better, offer a specific package of journalists on the website: bloggers/journalist that have been peer-reviewed.

Get on it and build this website then

I would put this website together myself, but unfortunately I do not have the know-how. So, if anybody reading this blog agrees with me, we can put our heads together and come up with a solution. I can build the website, and you can help me with the RSS component. Oh, and maybe even some of the content for the website. Oh, and then there is the whole advertising component that would have to get figured out too.
Yes, I can not do it all myself. Come on Winnipeg bloggers! Let's come together.