Serendipity, sort of: Blogs and the Post-Dispatch

A couple of weeks ago - and in the wake of a ranking of top blogging newspapers by NYC prof Jay Rosen and his grad students - I wrote my own quick critique of the blogging efforts of my town's own daily, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. I also posted a link to the critique at the P-D site, which was graciously published.

One point I raised toward the end of the piece was the absence of a relationship between the paper and the outside blogging community - that is, bloggers who aren't P-D staffers. This is far removed from the lively example of the Oklahoman, which highlights the work of several "community bloggers" from the Oklahoma City area.

I did single out the seeming sole online exception at the P-D, the very funny and pointed work of Dana Loesch, a real live area blogger...except that her work was presented at the P-D site as a column (called, like her actual blog, Mamalogues) rather than a more interactive blog. Didn't make sense...especially for a paper trying to make a name for itself, blog-wise...but there it was.

But as I said, that was a couple of weeks ago, and things have changed. About three days after I said my piece here, Loesch became a full-fledged P-D blogger in addition to being a columnist at the paper. The new effort is called Pop Mama, and it's a welcome addition to the stable of bloggers there.

Of course, it would be the height of immodesty to suggest any connection between my critique and the addition of Loesch as a blogger at the newspaper. And I'm scared of heights.

Anyway: that's one outside blogger at the P-D, which is one more than they had. It's a start. I had promised to return to the topic of newspapers and outside blogers, and I will in earnest whenever time allows.

Questions for the Shakers: What's your local paper like, blog-wise? Does it host internal weblogs? Does it reach out at all to bloggers in the community?

(Cross-posted for your reading convenience...)