Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Allow us to reintroduce ourselves

Ahhh, the start of a new year. Everyone’s excited about things to come. Some are happy to leave 2007 behind.

In the spirit of all that is new, I think this would be a good time to welcome some new folks who have started to stop by, read posts and vote in the weekly polls. Welcome, and we hope you enjoy your time here!

I also think this may be the time to introduce ourselves to those newcomers and reintroduce ourselves to those that have been with us from the beginning.

From our very first post:

Basically we’re a bunch of 20- and 30-somethings who happen to be journalists at The Times, living in the Shreveport-Bossier City area.
You’ve probably seen us out and about, or talked to us, and, if we’re lucky, you might have even read at least one of our stories.
Well, what you may not know about us is that we’re a very opinionated bunch with a wide range of ideas, beliefs and perceptions of the world around us.And more times than not, we’re very vocal about those opinions and views among each other.
In fact, our discussions have played out a many of times over everything from newsroom chats to lunch and dinner debates. But at the end of the day, we’re just normal folks like everyone else, trying to figure out our way through this maze called life.
So we’ve decided to open up and share those experiences, thoughts, observations and perceptions with you all.

We talk about a little bit of everything on here. From the serious to the silly, from the controversial to the crazy, we comment on it all. It’s a mix of news from our personal lives and news from local, national and global levels.

And to clear up a point that seems to get confused in a lot of the comments left on posts: there is a difference between blogging and reporting. Think of blog posts as opinion pieces and news reports as unbiased presentations of what happened. We blog here, we don’t report.

Basically, if we’re thinking it or experiencing it, we’re blogging about it. Everything we write is personal to us, making this a place of personal thought, reflection and plain old fashion sharing.

Not everything is meant to be news and what we write here, you most likely won’t find in the pages of our employer. And that’s the point.

Like all situations in life, we realize we can’t please everybody all of the time. But we hope you’re finding something you like that brings you back and we enjoy the dialogue generated from some posts. But a little understanding on each of our parts goes a long way, I think.

So, Happy New Year, welcome, welcome back, and it’s a pleasure to meet you!

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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

"...there is a difference between blogging and reporting. Think of blog posts as opinion pieces and news reports as unbiased presentations of what happened. We blog here, we don’t report."

That's all fine and good. But first, if you think what you put in the paper are unbiased presentations of what happened, then you are only fooling yourself. Second, then don't put it in the paper--it becomes a report. It's the Times who blurs the line. It's inappropriate to put parts of these in the paper.

Melinda Williams said...

Well anonymous, you have given me a chance to ask a question I have wanted to know the answer to for quite a while. Why do you feel the newspaper is biased? Can you point out some examples?

And as far as blogs running in the paper, they run in the Conversations section, which is The Times' home for opinion pieces, and the Sports section, because sports reporting without analysis is just list of facts and figures.

And thanks for reading the blog and the paper.

Unknown said...

Anon, you seem really unsophisticated when it comes to understanding the dynamics of a newspaper. Have you ever read one?

Melinda pretty much covered everything in her response. But, seriously, you might try actually reading the newspaper and digesting what you read before commenting the next time.

Your response made you seem sort of simple-minded, dude. For real. Reading is fundamental.