We Want Media

Boston Globe staff reporter Mac Daniel commutes to Boston every day from Andover (north of the city) in his 1999 Toyota Corolla. His Column Starts and Stops can be found in the Globe’s Sunday City & Region section.

While being an expert on transportation may seem extremely niche, for Bostonians who have been dealing with the Big Dig for almost two decades, weekly updates sometimes are not enough. For daily coverage, Daniel posts on his “Starts and Stops” blog about alternate routes, Big Dig progress, closed roads, new T lines, and even bike racing.

His blog not only helps his readers get to work with less of a headache, but has benefited the Globe. “It gives us another venue to get news out, allows us to get into breaking news,” Daniel says. Quick and consistent publishing also helps the Globe to compete with television, and allows Daniel and other bloggers the freedom of writing in a “different, less formal voice.”

But Daniel still keeps the formalities of journalism in mind when blogging. The most surprising thing to him about the blogging phenomenon is that “people think they’re ‘citizen journalists’ without knowing much about journalism.” While he finds the empowerment of publishing that blogging gives people wonderful, he worries that some blur the line between “advocacy and impartial observation.”

Daniel admits that sometimes blogs have made news, referencing Trent Lott and recent suspension of one of the Globe’s sports writers. “But that’s rare. Blogs should be blogs, journalists should stay journalists, and that’s that.”