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The Nashville CityPaper gets a new look...and, a new launch into blogging.

Of course, I had to try out the new comments form (one bit of bad news; it's held up in moderation...)

From the Political Animals Blog, Clint Brewer's first post, Welcome!

Welcome to Political Animals, one of the new Nashville City Blogs, a part of The City Paper’s new foray into social media and the blogosphere.

As Nashville’s truly local newspaper, we are committed to providing our readers with vibrant new products that stay ahead of the curve and tell the story of our city and state.

Our new blogs are the first in a series of interactive, social media products our newspaper company will offer online readers in the coming months. We seek not only your readership but your feedback and input on how we can better serve your need to be well informed, entertained and enlightened.

Political Animals, focusing on politics and government, will be written by The City Paper’s government reporters and editors. In addition, The City Paper is launching three other blogs: The Style Arbiter, written by City Paper fashion contributor Libby Callaway; Nashville Ballerz, a group blog written by the paper’s sports reporters and editors; and Giant Steps, a blog about music, film, books and more, written by City Paper arts and music critic Ron Wynn.

Our blogs will be culled and written by a staff of experienced professional journalists dedicated to covering the Nashville community and providing our readers coverage of local events, news trends and happenings. This new medium for delivering that information is an effort to continue to broaden our offerings to The City Paper’s devoted, loyal readership base in the Nashville area.

Thank you for reading our newspaper and our website. As we move forward, thank you for reading these blogs as well.

Clint Brewer

Executive Editor

Well, that's well and good, but the one thing I focused on in my comment was the clause "....Our blogs will be culled and written by a staff of experienced professional journalists..." Here's my comment, held up for now...

Nice, slick interface! I've got to try this:

"Our blogs will be culled and written by a staff of experienced professional journalists..."

Clint, you're just another in a long line of Media Outlets who, late in the game, are blurring blogging and the Professional Media...of course, traditional 'bloggers' still disdain, and in some cases, serve as watchdogs on, the ProJos...remember Rather? But we also have ProJos who made the jump rather easily...Michelle Malkin comes to mind.

Professional Journalists have a 'filter' that bloggers don't have, and are subject to constraints that 'traditional' bloggers aren't subject to. But, ProJos do have the means to get access to stories, and the funding to get them to a wide audience, thus attracting advertisers...

What remains to be seen is, how much will the ProJos let their hair down, while experimenting with blogging? Will they be true to their ProJo form, and will these newly-minted 'bloggers' get much audience?

Good luck, and we'll see...

Yeah, well, blogging has a history, and some of that history is in direct conflict with the Mass Media. There is so much online, interactive content available today that ProJos have to 'give in' and recognize that what's been biting them in the arses. Not just Dan Rather, but the New York Times layoffs, and general havoc in newsrooms nationwide, with dwindling ad revenues....

I enjoy reading the CityPaper, and make a point to physically pick one up every time I'm in Davidson County. I do log on and read the online version, and in the past have left comments (I have yet to see if, since the site upgrade, they are floating in the ether, or have completely disappeared...shame, that, but not unexpected) on the articles that interest me. We'll see over the next few weeks if that is coming back.

And, we'll see if Powerline Blog News makes CityPaper's Blogroll...

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