WebProNews

I am convinced that many reporters across all beats are reading/monitoring blogs. It's not just the reporters who are covering the Internet, media, politics or technology.

Take baseball for example. The Dodger Thoughts weblog yesterday posted an in-depth interview with Los Angeles Times baseball beat reporter Bill Shaikin. The post reveals quite a bit on how Shaikin feels bloggers fill a need that newspapers simply do not have the space to fulfill...

"The seed planted by a blog can lead a writer to use his access and ask questions of the appropriate parties. I agree with the Dodger Thoughts perspective that the blogs that stand out offer original reporting - not just a "take" and not necessarily comments from players, agents or general managers - but insight and commentary not found elsewhere. I also agree that the site of the late Doug Pappas represented blogs at their best - "baseball news you can't get anywhere else," to borrow the motto of Baseball America."

Steve Rubel is a PR strategist with nearly 16 years of public relations, marketing, journalism and communications experience. He currently serves as a Senior Vice President with Edelman, the largest independent global PR firm.He authors the Micro Persuasion weblog, which tracks how blogs and participatory journalism are changing the public relations practice.