via
Online Journalism Review (USC Annenberg)
...the biggest sign that the turf battle between bloggers and journalists may be drawing to a close is the upcoming launch of a blog syndication network that will help newspapers republish existing blog content on their websites.
Funny, the Washington Post has already signed on for this syndication service, despite the fact that (right wing) political topics are not available.
Syndicating blog content to the "old media" was the subject of my very first diary (big whoop!) but this particular service seems really lame... But maybe a sign of better things to come? Why is it lame? More at the jump
"You have a lot of great bloggers out there, and a lot of time they blog about a subject you may not be as strong on on your own site," said Jim Brady, executive editor of washingtonpost.com, adding that the paper was interested in supplementing sections like food and travel. "We just thought we'd get on the front lines and see if it's something that would work long term for us."
The new service is called BlogBurst. Currently, it is in beta, and subject matter is limited to Travel, Women's Issues, Technology, Food/Entertainment & Local Metro. During the beta, bloggers will not be paid (good deal, suckers!)
Newspapers are only testing BlogBurst right now. But in theory, the service will work like this: Pluck signs bloggers to BlogBurst and examines each blog to see if the blog's content and quality are appropriate for syndication. A list of approved bloggers is then made available to newspapers through an online interface, and editors can pick and choose which blogs they want to syndicate, and for how long.
The blog content will appear on the paper's site, but will be embedded with the site's look and feel. Ostensibly, newspapers will benefit by supplementing their coverage, and bloggers will profit from increased exposure. Pluck plans to eventually share a percentage of ad revenue with the bloggers.
I guess this is a start - maybe Kos affiliate "MotherTalkers" could sign up for instance. But I'm disappointed this syndication is limited to newspaper websites and not a way to bring blog content into the print media. And no politics? WTF?!?!?
I sure would love to see leading liberal blogs like DKos cooperating to syndicate their original content to PRINT media, starting with the alternative newsweeklies all over the country. There are still way too many people who are not clued in to the online revolution. Let's wake them up!!!