Tuesday, March 14, 2006

Blogging from a crime scene Late Tuesday afternoon I was standing in a computer lab writing about independent "watchdog journalism" on the Web, mentioning that, "Here in Knoxville we have some watchdog-like activity from time to time in local blogs, including the group site KnoxViews..." At roughly the same minute, if you believe the blog time-stamp, R.Neal, the publisher of KnoxViews, was doing some of that "citizen journalism" we talk about. He was on the phone with the Blount County sheriff's office getting details for his first blog report from the scene of a bank robbery. (He'd already posted a first draft with text and photos.) If I'd read the story earlier (when I was more awake), I would have gone looking for the time-stamps on local "pro" news media websites to see if any of them were as close to the story as my blogging friend. His KnoxViews item does have a more detailed police bulletin than another report I've seen... Kudos Mr. Neal, and to the sheriff's public information officer for returning his call. Good timing for Sunshine Week. 1:51:52 AM

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