5. Contemporary Issues in the Australian Press
Blogging in Australian metropolitan dailies
The phenomenon of blogging has become popular to such an extent that metropolitan newspapers now allow or require some of their mainstream journalists, as well as others, to produce blogs associated with the newspaper website. But hard data are not easily acquired.
Due to a poor response to a questionnaire that was circulated to all 12 metropolitan and national dailies in August, this study is based on accessing the relevant on-line sites on the same day, 16 September 2007. The purpose was to ascertain the number of blogs on the newspapers' on-line sites and the presence of terms and conditions governing the bloggers' behaviour.
Newspapers tend to feature columnists, usually from their own staff, as bloggers. Some sought readers' participation in blogs through offering prizes and other incentives. Some of the blogs were the same across different newspapers as News Limited shared the content. Although the date of the inception of the blogs on the newspaper site is unclear due to the poor response to the survey, the two newspaper editors who did respond stated the blogs began in 2005 and 2006.
The newspapers with the highest circulation predictably had more response "comments" on their blog sites although the actual number of comments is impossible to gauge without input from individual on-line editors to the questionnaire. Both respondents indicated that they monitored the readership although they did not have precise figures as to the number of posts on all blogs.
Terms and conditions varied across all blogs, with Fairfax newspapers (The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald) specifying terms and conditions on the blog page. Other blogs had terms and conditions off their home page.
Blogging developmental processes
The two on-line editors who did complete the survey: John McDonald, The Herald Sun, and John Grey from The Courier-Mail provided illustrative information about developments..
The Herald Sun blogsite began in 2006 and has around ten blogs on its site. It monitors readership through Nielsen Net Ratings. The columnist Andrew Bolt attracts more than 30 per cent of blog traffic across all News Limited sites. John McDonald stated that the content of the newspaper had not changed since the advent of blogs on-line but that relevant articles often carried pointers to the blogs. He said that about 75 per cent of bloggers were staff journalists. Although he did not believe any of the blogs had broken news, he stated: "the potential is there for exactly that." He believed blogs should address major topics (eg migration and terrorism).
Mr McDonald said that every blog was moderated (edited) and "anything that carries the slightest risk of defamation or contempt (or breaking laws such as racial vilification) is not published." He did say, though, that The Herald Sun did not have a contractual process in place between the newspaper and bloggers, even though the newspaper could be held legally responsible for bloggers' comments. Fortunately the newspaper had not faced any legal proceedings arising out of bloggers' comments but it had received a warning that a comment on the blog could be in breach of the Racial Vilification Act. Mr McDonald believed that the blogosphere contributed to growing The Herald Sun's readership "by promoting the brand among a readership that might otherwise not read newspapers".
John Grey from The Courier-Mail said that blogs were first placed on-line for the newspaper in 2005 and now numbered around a dozen Brisbane' The Courier-Mail has 16 blogs listed, mostly columnist based and some inviting readers to comment on issues such as "have your say on speed cameras, road works, petrol prices, tailgaters, Volvo drivers... anything to do with modern motoring". The Nielsen Site Census, HBX and reader responses were used to assess readership of the blogs. Although the newspaper had not totalled the number of comments posted overall, one blog had 7500 comments since April 2006.
The blogs that most attracted comments have been: "Specific and serious issues, followed by sexy video blogger". The most popular blogs ranged over opinion, news celebrity and leisure. He said about 15-20 bloggers were staffers. Some blogs had broken news, particularly in the entertainment section and on local issues. Major public issues elicited a large number of responses. Also the newspaper promoted more in-depth discussions by inviting comments on particular topics. He said staff bloggers edited their own comments but, as the newspaper could be held responsible for bloggers' comments, terms and conditions were imposed on the contributions of external contract bloggers.
Other metropolitan newspapers
The news.com.au site, publisher of six of the metropolitan daily newspapers (including the Herald Sun and The Courier-Mail), as well as the Sunday Times in Perth and the national daily, The Australian, listed 41 blogs varying from columnists to home help on its website.
Most blogs in on-line newspaper sites were accessed from the homepage, sometimes through the "opinion" gateway. It was not always clear from the blog sites that terms and conditions apply to comments posted although News Limited sites include a standard News Digital Media Pty Ltd statement with a clause which reads: "Users will not use this site for any purpose or in any way which is unlawful", but this statement was usually not on the actual blog page.
The Australian's blog page offered 16 columnists' blogs, predominantly on political commentary. Phillip Adams had the most comments with 433 comments on an article entitled Labor turns its back on a true giant. Other less politically focused blogger columnists for The Australian included Ruth Ostrow, whose subjects were more lifestyle-oriented such as When teens are the targets and Cabbie on the Wrong Track.
The top ten articles in the past seven days (from the date of the survey) related to a piece entitled An Epic Day, which was about Prime Minister John Howard's decision on whether to stand down, which had more than 400 comments.
The Sydney Morning Herald, published by Fairfax Media, had ten blogs focused on various subjects such as news, sport, home and garden and entertainment, and featuring columnist bloggers. Among the staffers, were a cartoonist, Rocco Fazarri, whose blog took readers "behind his illustrations and into the newsroom". Others included a focus on Australia's migrant mix, a blog from the Freedom of Information editor and a slideshow from the newspapers' photographers. A travel blog entitled Backpacker featured the Herald's resident globetrotter on a shoe-string, Ben Groundwater, who finds the cheap, and the nasty, in the world's best backpacking destinations. The Life and Leisure supplement included All Men are Liars, a blog on the issues affecting men. The entertainment blog encouraged reviews from readers but, on the day surveyed, there were virtually no comments posted.
The Age, also published by Fairfax Media, had 22 blogs including Space Hogs on Home renovation and happy pills and Are anti-depressants killing happiness and love? Other blogs included religious topics, movies and gardening. The Age, like The Sydney Morning Herald had clear terms and conditions specifically for bloggers posted on the blogging site, which included retaining "the right and discretion (but not the obligation) to edit, delete, reject or remove any comment which you post or seek to post in the comments areas".
News Limited's Daily Telegraph had 30 blogs, including columnist Piers Akerman and other more topical blogs such as Australian Idol and Daily Big Brother recaps, as well as fashion, a motoring blog and sex and health.
The West Australian incited readers to 'get even with our writers' with direct blog links off the on-line homepage. The newspaper has seven different types of blogs, including Susan Hewitt on parenting, Melissa Ken, The London Muse, and Mark Naglazas on celebrities. The most comments the week of the survey was in response to Griffin Longley (24 comments) on 'being a bloke'.
' blog site (another published by Fairfax, following its merger with Rural Press) was predominantly written by staffer Brenda Cunningham-Lewis across a range of topics in the news, ranging from the disappearance of Maddie McCann to the horse flu epidemic. It also encouraged readers to post comments, "Here is the place for you to vent on any national or world news and lifestyle stories on the yourguide websites. If there is anything you see or hear that you like or don't like, tell us. Don't keep it to yourself!" The blog with the most comments was a story entitled APEC ANTICS: Should the Chaser boys pull their heads in? , with 40 comments posted.
Those who wished to participate on blog had to register and join a free site, which provides subscribers with promotional offers, but there were no clearly marked terms and conditions posted. The insulting posting, "Celtic crap. Line yourself up against me, and you will become fish bait! You contaminated turd! Your accusation of fascism echoes of your very own threat! You should be incarcerated, or deported, whichever is the most expedient!", drew only a mild response from the on-line editor, who confined his response to: "Please stay on topic".
The Advertiser (News Limited's Adelaide newspaper) has six blogs listed. It urges participation through encouraging readers to "Have Your Shout on us", giving out prizes, including a carton of beer and sports tickets to participants. Most of the other blogs focused on sport topics.
No blog site could be detected on the Australian Financial Review on-line site (which is largely available only to subscribers) or The Northern Territory News. The Mercury in Hobart had a blank page on its blog site on the day of the survey, although it does encourage on-line feedback to posted "opinion" articles.
Conclusion
Blogs are increasingly being used in mainstream newspapers to engage directly with readers, who are also invited to participate in the process of providing opinion as well as news. CyberJournalist, the most comprehensive list of blogs produced by journalists in the US, has noted 240 sites in their J-Blogs Index of blogs published by news sites (http://wiki.cyberjournalist.net/jblogs-ongoing).
Blogs also provide a voice for staff journalists who canvass different topics to those they might address in their usual reporting mode. The method of policing, legally or ethically, damaging comments is still being addressed with the legal situation being largely untested as far as publishing response comments to blogs.