Keep posting daily if you're going to be a blogger

Photo by Erik Drost, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

It's a holiday, I know, but bloggers need to keep posting, preferably daily, to keep their followers happy. At least, this is highly recommended. I'm not sure whether a daily dose of poorly considered verbiage is actually preferable to a less frequent, but well-thought-out epistle. But it's the standard. Anyone who wants to chip in on why this is so, please comment below! 

A blog is supposed to be informal and therefore easier to write than a news story. But if you're a journalist or aspiring to be one, it's essential to be as careful with your blog as you would with a news story. It's a publication. Your reputation depends on the reliability and accuracy of everything that appears under your byline (for those not familiar with this term, it's refers to the "By Carrie Buchanan" (that's my byline) that appears above a news story, or wherever the author's name appears). Your byline is your reputation. Take it seriously. 

We will be learning about verification techniques in class. My favorite resource is online here: The Verification Handbook. Check it out. Note: YOU DO NOT NEED TO PAY FOR IT. There's a button that says "Buy the Book" but the PDF downloads are FREE. It was created a couple of years ago by a group of leading journalists, most of whom write with an international focus. The one I know is Craig Silverman, from Montreal, who also does a column for the Poynter Institute, another great source of journalism training and resources.  Silverman is the founding editor of Buzzfeed Canada and has established a rather good reputation for Buzzfeed in that country, I have learned from another excellent journalism outlet, the podcast Canadaland. The podcast's focus is critiquing Canadian media, and it's one of Canada's most popular podcasts of any kind. 

Nuff about Canada. I will spare you any more, especially on the Fourth of July! I will be sharing many U.S. based resources, including media criticism, on the RNC Convention 2016 course page, which is soon to be published. Stay tuned!

Dr. B

PS (You may notice that I did not post on Friday, July 1. That's Canada's national holiday.)