Spalpeen

In response to a question on the NUJ New Media email list. 

Professional blogging isn’t much different from ordinary blogging. Effectively, it is just a far more efficient and team-based version of the average blogger’s “I saw a link that is cool/new/interesting so I should write about it” ethos. The scale is just far larger.

In Engadget’s case, instead of one blogger, there is an extended team of writers. Instead of casually browsing the web to find links, we use lists of sources in group RSS readers and email tip boxes. Instead of just allowing anyone to blog, writers are trained for months before they are allowed to post on their own. There are strict guidelines regarding length, style, tone, and content of articles. There are guidelines on image sizes, comment moderation, and event coverage (especially event coverage). Our ethics policy is equivalent to the New York Times. It’s extremely hard work, often involving late hours (remember, I’m based in the UK and I write for an American website), OK but not great pay (the dollar is its lowest against sterling for 25+ years), and huge dedication.

So why do I do it? Because if you enjoy the topic and love writing, it can be extremely rewarding.

At age 19, I was flown out to Las Vegas to cover CES. I had on average 3-4 hours sleep a night, and had flu for a week afterwards, yet I got to work  face-to-face with a team of extremely intelligent people, cover new gadgets before half the mainstream media had woken up, and generally have a riot of a time talking about and playing with new gadgets.

Because of my blogging, I had the opportunity to ask Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, the first question at the Apple iPhone press conference last month. Have you any idea how exhilarating it is for a 20 year old student to be able to do such a thing? To be on an equal playing field with journalists from The FT, the BBC, the Guardian, Channel 4 News (all publications which I intensely admire)?

Those are only two of the many, many examples.