Jim Romenesko (Credit: Portfolio.com)
Yeah, I know, the world is full of bloggers, and many of those bloggers are full of you-know-what. But if you rely on just one person to know what is happening in the news media business, you should rely on Jim Romenesko. Romenesko writes for the Poynter Institute, a journalism training organization in St. Petersburg, Fla. (Romenesko lives in the Chicago area.) Go to www.poynter.org and click on “Romenesko.” By the way, Romenesko got his start in Wisconsin: He went to school at Marquette, worked for The Milwaukee Journal and then was an editor at Milwaukee Magazine before he discovered blogging and all sorts of weird stuff. Caution: Sometimes people leak memos or rumors to Romenesko just to gauge public reaction, so some of the stuff he writes about doesn’t come to pass. But that’s not much different from the role print reporters often have. By the way, you can get Romenesko on Twitter. He tweets maybe a dozen times a day, usually with something interesting. If you’re concerned about the future of the media business, Romenesko is a good daily briefing for you.
The most interesting thing I think is he doesn’t review his stories for facts. I guess I know that bloggers don’t really care about it necessarily but I think it’s interesting that he is a bigger named person who is in the profession and he doesn’t care about accuracy when that’s what journalism is based off…despite the fact that he gets up UBER early it seems like he has a really easy job.
When I read blogs I have to admit, I seldom interpret them as news stories, and often view them as creative chatter. While I think Romenesko’s blog is interesting, I’m still confused as to why he hardly writes his only material. I think it is a neat idea that he looks for interesting articles to link to, but it reminds me more of a ’shovelware’ kind of reporting. While he pulls interesting information, it’s really just other people’s ideas he is referring to.
Nonetheless, it is an creative concept. I especially enjoyed his link to “Pundits love using TV appearance shots for their Facebook profile photos.” This article had a satirical nature and Romenesko’s summary paragraph made me want to read on.
Jim Romenesko may have a following, however, I am not sure what or who he is. I agree with Rose. If he does not review his stories for credibility then he is just another blog “flash dancer.”
He appears obscure and vague (perhaps intentionally) in regard to identity and journalistic flair. I am tempted to categorize him as another blog “shovelware” artist, as Danielle had stated.
I am also going to have to agree with most people posting on this. While his type of reporting isn’t for me, it is obvious to see why he would have such a following online. His blogs are have a clever level to them that i think a lot of people appreciate. He does not do a lot of sourcing and accuracy, but those facets were never really blogs strengths in the first place.
Twitter is stupid–it’s a bunch of people saying they’re sitting on the couch, right? Some might argue that Twitter is a powerful social networking site that allows you to ‘follow’ people that publish subjectively interesting information. You can follow government representatives, artists, professors, classmates or even Jim Romenesko.
If you are interested in journalism, Jim Romenesko, as a veteran reporter, acts as a news aggregate for you specifically. He searches for (or is given) relevant stories, provides contextual insight with each link, and sometimes adds a little humor to increase the stories’ accessibility.
I use Web sites like this everyday, and I thoroughly appreciate being able to directly access articles that are compiled instead of stumbling through celebrity stories and irrelevant AP articles acting as fillers. This could be the reason why the legality of linking is being questioned.
Romenesko identified Daniel Schoor as a liberal, but said that this is often offset by his conservative guests. That contextual information might lead you to read the linked article and possibly start listening to him on NPR. He also links to current articles regarding First Amendment Rights and the importance of fact checking. As a journalist, good luck finding a Web site that offers this many stories that are relevant to your interests.
Personally, he seems like just another typical blogger, who has gotten some recognition. I would have a problem using his blogs as reference points or as citations. With all the info on the internet, there has to be a more civilized, easier, and more credible way to get news.
I agree with most of the responses that were previously posted. Although Romenesko may have some amusing blog posts, I wouldn’t rely on them for formal news accuracy and/or credibility. It seems to me that a lot of his stuff is just fun or interesting stuff to read when you find yourself surfing the web with nothing better to do.