We Want Media

I like the Atlanta Journal Constitution. It is a respectable newspaper, and while it does not have the national cred of the New York Times or Los Angeles Times, it is publication worth noting.

I was so excited to see that the AJC added blogs onto its website—hooray, we are moving into the 21st century! But then I clicked to read some of the blogs and saw that they are not really blogs at all. AJC, I think you are missing the mark.

I have been a blogger, in one form or another, for four years now. I currently write for three different blogs and I am taking a class on the subject. So, I say with somewhat authority, and love, that you can do better.

Table Talk, a dining blog, is an example of a great topic gone sour. What keeps a blog going and generating traffic is content, content, content mixed with commentary, commentary, commentary. Posts on table talk are days, even weeks apart at times. I understand that restaurants are a different animal when it comes to blogging, but there still has to be enough content to keep readers coming back.

Also, there is no real substance to the posts. I want to know the authors' opinion of a place: Were the waiters cute and how tender was the duck? Instead, commentary seems to be the primary focus of the blog. In the end, it’s great to know that Suzie Q loves the salads at Doc Greens, but what did the writer think about it? Writers are the authority. It is what they are paid to do! Blogs are not just comment aggregators, but a place for people (writers) to voice their opinions in a timely and engaging way.

There are so many great restaurants in the city of Atlanta. I personally volunteer, here and now, to eat at a different restaurant every day and create at least ONE blog post every day. I’m totally up for the challenge, and so is my stomach.