BlogBurst is the latest in terms of converging citizen journalism and traditional journalism: it syndicates blog content and links it to newspaper or publisher websites.
Blogburst currently ‘employs’ 2800 bloggers, which totaled 100 million publisher headlines over the last month alone (this figure can be misleading, since a dozen or so headlines are accounted every time a user visits a partner newspaper or publisher’s homepage), and the numbers are just starting to soar as Blogburst struck recent partnerships with larger agencies such as USA Today or Reuters.
Newman insists the syndication concept is key for the future of journalism, and helpful both for journalists, bloggers and readers. The “average reader doesn’t have much capacity to digest news,” so BlogBurst helps reader retention by giving both sides of the story (the blog versus the report), by “putting the best information in front of the reader.” It also helps newspapers and bloggers by increasing their online traffic and exposure. Newman calls it a “beneficial relationship.”

According to Newman, blogs’ value in journalism resides in their “ability to bring new content to newspaper websites.”
Thus Reuters, a traditional media company with strict editorial guidelines, can use and link to blogs’ opinionated content without having to endorse it because it stays part of the Blogburst syndication.
The Guardian, faced with the World Cup craze of this summer, asked for links to soccer blogs that could give live coverage of the tournament and festive atmosphere.
Newspapers can also use blogs in ways that can seem counter-intuitive. The Houston Chronicle, a democrat-leaning publication, asked BlogBurst to provide them with more conservative blog feeds, in order to balance the political orientation of their content.
During the recent ‘war’ between Israel and Lebannon, The Houston Chronicle included feeds from four bloggers who were “able to describe wars as they were happening, as the shells were falling,” from the ‘authentic’ standpoint of the population. This gave the readers the unique “ability to be in the first-person perspective,” said Newman.

The bulk of Blogburst’s work happens in the process of ‘recruiting’ specific bloggers. After going through a “strategic assessment of content with the publishers” – determining the specific subjects a newspaper wants covered – BlogBurst’s editorial team searches for “the small percentage of bloggers” who “love to blog” and have “expertise or knowledge on a specific area.”
These bloggers are selected depending on their “right writing styles” – something along the lines of journalistically correct, the regularity of their posts, and the originality and pertinence of their articles.
Bloggers must then be recruited to join the “invite-only network,” but they remain entirely independent in their choice of content and publishing. Independent as they are, many selected bloggers descend from traditional media.

Blogburst recently set up a reward program to moderately prize 100 of its bloggers, anywhere between $10 and $1500. An extra incentive for quality content although Newman acknowledges most bloggers are not for profit and simply “want to inform and entertain.”

In the end, is blog syndication good or bad for journalism?
“What’s happening with journalism is that it’s becoming participatory,” Newman said. He didn’t allude to any detrimental effects blog syndication could have on the newspaper industry – such as fewer professionals, more participatory journalists, and less factual news.
He maintains that “blog content is one part of the puzzle” for well-rounded journalism and that in the future, media sites will be a “combination of traditional journalism with audience participation.” So maybe the question isn’t whether BlogBurst is ‘good’ or ‘bad’ for journalism. Instead, will traditional newspapers be able to adapt to a societal trend and the evolution of news content?
As for BlogBurst in particular, Newman expects it to orient progressively towards multimedia, while also expanding its cooperation with newspapers.

Source: Eric Newman - World Association of Newspapers