50 Best Journalism Blogs

Journalism today is in a very tumultuous situation. Print media appears to be dying, while digital media is still sorting itself out. Yet, the resources available for any budding journalist are not limited or bleak. Here is a list of the top 50 blogs about journalism. Whether you want to become a photographer, designer, reporter, editor, or just want to read more about the industry, this list will provide all the resources necessary to be well on your way to understanding the ins and outs of journalism. Get your pen and paper ready for a whole new world of journalism.
Top Five

1. The Campus Copy: This blog, written largely by students struggling to become journalists, brings a very personal aspect to what college journalism is like, including the struggles and successes that accompany it. Contributors come from the most basic liberal arts journalism programs to the largest of university campus papers.
   • Why We Love It: This is a very approachable blog, which provides bite-sized pieces of information on how to be a journalist from people who are trying to be journalists themselves.
   • Favorite Post: Make Demands!
2. The Intersection: This thought-provoking blog discusses how new journalism in the digital age has to adapt to a multifaceted set of standards regarding communication and production. It is a sleek and easy-to-read discussion of the future of journalism — a question everyone inside and outside the industry is wondering.
   • Why We Love It: This blog has very thoughtful and well-written articles that are highly relevant in the changing landscape of journalism today.
   • Favorite Post: I don’t have a smartphone; I have a 3.5 inch tablet
3. Journalism Hope: Through this collaborative blog, all aspects and support for budding journalists is brought together in one place. It has informative articles, discussions, and more about how to become a journalist even in today’s broken journalism system.
   • Why We Love It: This blog is very easy to read and has multiple categories of entries that make it very easy to find resources and discussions.
   • Favorite Post: Top Journalism Schools 2011
4. Wired Journalists: Like most professionals, journalists rely on networking to get ahead. This blog is a virtual collaboration and networking site that includes thoughtful discussions and the advancement of helpful tools for the budding journalist.
   • Why We Love It: This blog is not only useful in its scope but also well managed and artfully designed. It is a good, easy tool for any aspiring journalist to get to know to get ahead.
   • Favorite Post: Ideas for Good use of Facebook?
5. Photojournalism from a Student’s Eye: Written by a photojournalism student who retells stories of the trade artfully well, this blog explores what it is like to be an aspiring journalist. Though it focuses on photojournalism in particular, many of the tips are useful for other areas of journalism as well.
   • Why We Love It: This blog is well written and engaging with good, simple tips for any student journalist, plus it has great photos.
   • Favorite Post: 50 Who Matter

The Rest of the Best

• Angry Journalists:Like any job, Journalism has its ups and downs. This blog is a moderated discussion that lets journalists just be angry at their job, their sources, their boss, etc.
• Beat Blogging: This blog took the concept of beat reporting and applied to the Internet in blog form. It was founded based on a study commissioned to find out how better to improve beat reporting.
• Beet.tv: This blog is for the tv journalist at heart. It is a new blog format that is entirely video posts from budding journalists trying to make a name for themselves in the video journalism world.
• Capitol Beat: For journalists working in the United States capitol or wanting to work there, this blog is a community resource for Capitol Hill reporters. It discusses insider tips, contacts, and other tools of the trade for specifically capitol hill reporters.
• CSM Blog: This blog sponsored by the Center for Social Media at American University is a resource on the ever-expanding uses of social media in digital journalism. It also discusses how the law plays into the use of social media.
• Cyber Journalist: This blog about being a journalist in the technology era, focuses on new tools and communication techniques for journalists to expand into. It has a hopeful message of excitement toward the future of journalism as a technology industry.
• Editor and Publisher: Even though the reporters are the ones out on the field getting the stories, editors and publishers are the ones putting the paper together. This blog is a resource for editors and publishers to collaborate on their business.
• Free Press: With any good journalism comes many good critics. This blog is all about supporting the freedom of press from the little newspaper in a rural town to the largest media empires.
• Freedom of the Prez: The president of the Society of Professional Journalists, Hagit Limor, has her own blog in which she discusses topics of importance to journalists in all facets of journalism in the United States and around the world. This is a provocative and engaging blog written by a professional insider in the fullest sense of that term.
• Global Voices: This online blog is a community of writers from around the world reporter on local events. The result is an impressively large conglomeration of world media that is constantly updated. It is community journalism in practice.
• Headsup: the blog: Reporters always have to send their stories in for editing. This blog is for the editors. It talks about common mistakes and problems editors run into and what it is like to be an editor.
• How to Change the World:
  Through the eyes of a socially awkward person, the blogger here discusses how to be interesting — the perpetual goal of all journalists. This blog gives quick tips and discussions on how to appear readable for the freelance journalist in particular.
• I, A Bee: Though the writers get most of the credit, journalism is an industry that is supported by advertising revenue. This blog is all about advertising for journalism from the Interactive Advertising Bureau: how to sell ads, how to have a marketing campaign, etc.
• Idea Lab: This blog from PBS’s Media Shift project is a space for open discussion of new media and the ideas which are pushing journalism into a new digital age. It is a celebration of the change in journalism, instead of the too-often seen lament of that shift.
• Innovation Journalism: A blog about not just the insider trade of journalism, but also its impact. The journalist wields a great deal of power with the pen and this blog discusses the affects of journalism on society as well as on the journalist and the industry.
• Institute for Analytic Journalism:Journalism is not just about writing and interviews. There is also a great deal of research that goes into a good journalism piece. This blog and podcast explores the more analytical, research side of journalism.
• J-Learning: With the future of formal journalism in question, a new type of journalism, known as community journalism has arisen in which people promote their own work through conglomerate contributor sites. This blog is a hands-on guide to how to make it in community journalism.
• Journalism and the World: Journalists operate not just in the United States but all around the world. Whether as foreign correspondents or just as journalists who are passionate about freedom of press and other international journalism issues, this blog discusses all things international in the journalism industry.
• Knight Digital Media Center All Site Feed: The Knight Digital Media Center through USC’s Annenberg School of Communication is a good compilation of many ideas about journalism and the journalism industry, including how to break into journalism as a student. There are many and varied resources available for constant perusal.
• Little Sis: Using a play on words of “Big Brother” this blog is all about keeping politicians and other leaders accountable. It is a collaborative project across multiple social media sites including this blog.
• Matt Waite: This blog by computer programmer and journalist Matt Waite looks at how much journalism today is driven by technology — by how a computer programmer can become a journalist by virtue of the fact that he can use the Internet effectively.
• McClatchy News: Through this innovative new blog, anyone can post, add, or edit posts to create a thoughtful discussion on whatever they want. It is both teaching online journalism and practicing it at the same time!
• Media Bloggers Associations: Finally, there is a blog about blogs! This blog looks at how journalists can break into the field through the use of blogs, promote and expand their portfolio with blogs, and just generally use blogs to be a better journalist.
• Net Worked: Newspaper print editions are dying and being replaced by websites and other “high tech” journalism methods. This blog explores many of these new tech journalism methods, including starting independent websites among other tech journalism topics.
• New Assignment: This experimental blog pushes the limit of community reporting into complete open-source reporting. It allows for a high level of contribution on a wide range of subjects as a test for what it is like to a be reporter.
• News Leadership 3.0: In the online news community, journalism is much more about community. This blog explores new ways that community journalists have taken the initiative to create new journalism in their communities.
• Notes from the Edge: This blog is written by the faculty and students of the Knight Digital Media Center at UC Berkeley. It provides many informative resources for any journalist and is constantly updated to provide only the latest information.
• Online Journalism Blog: This blog discusses online journalism and web media journalism trends. Through thoughtful discussion it brings to light many of the questions and concerns that face the journalism industry in the increasingly web-based world.
• Online Journalism Review: With the changing landscape of journalism today, this blog focuses on aspects of online journalism. Its focus is on how journalism can fit into the new media age. It is a good, one-stop resource for new media journalism.
• Poynter.: Poynter is a blog about all things journalism. It has categories on how to’s in journalism, on new around journalism, and discussions about journalism. Through varied professional contributions it is a good, all-around resource.
• Press Think: NYU’s Jay Rosen discusses all things journalistic in his blog. Through years of experience, the blogger imparts bits of wisdom about the journalism industry that he has learned as a professor of journalism.
• Public Journalism Network: Under the leadership of Professor Leonard Witt, the Public Journalism Network explores the relationship between journalism and democracy. It is a network of people interested in using journalism as a tool for the promotion of democracy.
• Publishing 2.0: Whether we like it or not, the printed newspaper is dying. This blog, however, does not see this as an altogether terrible thing but instead as a chance to re-envision the way newspapers are printed online and expand journalistic presence into the digital sphere.
• Reflections of a Newsosaur: As the name suggests, this blog is written by a long-time veteran of the newspaper industry. It discusses the scary prospect of a world without newspapers or any formal form of journalism.
• Research Buzz: Before any good newspaper story can be written it must first be researched — a task which has both become easier with technology and also more overwhelming. This blog talks about the intricacies of news research to try and make the task of research more approachable.
• Scree Tips: This blog was set up as a resource to promote and support journalists as they set up their own websites. It is built on the philosophy that in today’s journalism world, every journalist should have a personal website to promote themselves and their work.
• SocialMedia.biz: This activist blog promotes the use of new media in journalism. It particularly targets not only print journalists, but also video and documentary journalism.
• Testy Copy Editors: Copy editing is also an essential part of journalism, but between all the oxford commas and dangling modifiers it can be very frustrating work. This blog was set up as a community of copy editors to discuss the trade and talk about problems other people are having.
• The Future of News: A more academic blog from Ryan Thornburg — journalist and professor — discussing the future of journalism. He invites a discussion about how journalism can be adapted to fit into a new era.
• The Independent Journalist: It is increasingly difficult to find a solid job at a stable newspaper in today’s faltering journalism world. Instead, many people are turning to freelance journalism as an alternative. This blog provides commentary and resources on how to be a successful freelance journalist.
• The Mario Blog: The news industry is about more than just writing: it is also about the presentation. This blog looks at news design from the printed paper to online editions and mobile devices.
• The Well: As an older, more established blog, The Well has recently explored issues revolving around new digital-age journalism. In particular it has looked at community blogging and social journalism.
• Urban Journalism Workshop: This blog was started to try to inspire traditionally under-represented groups in journalism to pursue a career in that field. It targets the urban poor as an outlet for social journalism.
• Washington Journalism Education Association: A blog which is “supporting a free scholastic press for the state of Washington” talks about issues of free press in the education system both at a high school and a college level. This is also a good activist blog to support school newspapers which face problems of censorship.
• Who’s News?: This blog looks at who the news is writing for and how diversity is represented in the news. It is a blog written by insiders in the industry who discuss topics of racial profiling and targeted writing in journalism.