Did you intend for this to sound as though the Tennessean should hire you to give them better blogs than the ones WKRN is running right now?

Because that comes off as kind of mean.

Well, no, KaCo, that's not what I meant. I said the Tennessean could "blow away the competition," and by that I meant that it could beat all the TV stations, for the simple reason that it will be easier for a newspaper to go into "TV," via web video, than it will be for a TV station to go into print. Newspapers and print publications with websites have the easiest road to the future of completely platform-converged journalism.

I do believe that not one single media property in the market is currently coming close to maximizing its use of blogs and related "citizens media" tech and trends.

But, then, traditional media - even blog-savvy outfits like WKRN and to some extent the Knoxville News Sentinel seem to still view "bloggers" as different from "journalists." It would be better if they would train their reporters to also report via blogs - and not just post commentary and personal news as text on a blog, but do actual journalism on their blogs, even with audio and video when that's the best medium via which to tell the story.

Media outlets don't need to hire "bloggers" to do that. They need to hire reporters, and train them how to use the tools of blogging, video blogging and podcasts. Of course, a journalist with experience in blogging would be a valuable pick...

Some people think that tradiational journalists can and do use blogging tools effectively, but that their copy is so dry no one wants to read it. (I could give examples, but I won't name names.) That is part of the reason WKRN hired known "bloggers" rather than train seasoned journalists to run their blogs.

You may not think the commentary or copy that AC and I write is lively, different, off-beat or interesting, but I think thse were the things Ch. 2 was looking for, and that was the mentality in employing Kleinheider and myself. Our writing styles and the voices in which we presented our ideas were what made us desirable to the management. They wanted someone with a recognizable unique style and voice. Or so they say. Your mileage may vary.

You and ACK are doing a fine job as far as doing what you were hired to do. My post wasn't critical of NiT or VV - I just think that no local media is really doing all that can be done with blogging and related tools. WKRN is doing far more than most, but no one is doing more than about 10 percent of what can be done.

P.S. The Google Toolbar is free and has a spellchecker. I advise all bloggers to get it and use it.

As I mentioned earlier, vanity prevents me from using spellcheck.

So we'll have to live with my occasional errancy.

I am glad to see that this wasn't a run-down of WKRN, but I have to agree that many journalists don't make for interesting bloggers. Not all, but many.

There's a loose cadre of former Knight-Ridder journalists that are doing a good job (i.e. Nancy Nall) but they are mostly of the features-writing variety.