Bloggers are all About Opinion, Right?

Tempeh and Wild Mushroom Fricassee

Another day, another vegetarian recipe. Today's "Well" blog shared with its readers another round of vegetarian recipes perfect for your Thanksgiving day table. Parker-Pope took a different twist by giving us a different source: magazine, Cooking Light.

I, however, am not going to talk to you about more vegetarian recipes. I know you’re probably jumping for joy. Instead, I want to talk about how blogging for a news organization changes the process and finished product compared to an “average” blog.

In exploring the blogosphere, I've recognized that many bloggers are opinionated, openly sharing their beliefs with their followers. They do not write to inform per-say, not like a journalist would cover a speech by the president but instead, providing information in the context of his or her opinion, the way a stay-at-home mom might inform her readers through her personal opinion that every word the president said was hypocritical followed by an explanation.

Keeping this in mind, the "Well" blog, which I've been closely following is immediately set apart from the average health, food and fitness blogs you find on wordpress or technorati. "Well", is, well, supported by a newspaper and written by a journalist, giving it a different perspective and purpose.

Blogging by a Newspaper
So, how does this set it apart? Immediately because it is from a newspaper I considered it to be more credible; there is no reason to question the authenticity of the author or her information. But is that true? Many of the posts link to other New York Times articles so the news may not come from any other sources but the Times. What about news that another news organization published first, can she link to those stories as well?

Normally with news articles and feature stories, the New York Times would have a fact checker and an editor involved. Does the nature of the blog change Parker-Pope's process, does she still need to run her stories by an editor or would that make it lose its blog-ness? To be honest, I'm not sure.

It also makes it less opinionated than an average blog. It also gives the author more credibility and access to sources, interviews and stories. I think it definitely affects the comments and advertising sections as well as the content. More on comments and advertising in later posts.

On content, the author, working for a larger, news-based organization not only has to be more factual, less opinionated but might also have to be careful about what she shares and how she shares it.

In addition, the content is dissimilar from what you'd find on a (for the sake of comparison), we'll call it an "average" blog. Parker-Pope only injects as much voice and opinion as necessary to prove why the story is important enough for her to share. She doesn’t state outright that people should buy locally grown produce at farmer’s markets because that supports area farmers. However, she does slant in that direction because of the theme and messaging of her blog’s purpose—to give “practical advice to help readers take control of their health and live well every day.”

What do you think? Are we getting the whole story? Do we want more opinion or is that why we go to the Times, to get a range of health-related information all in one place that we know is factual information? While you’re thinking about it, feel free to check out the rest of the new recipes. Enjoy!