'Houston Chronicle' Tops List of 'Best Blogging' Newspapers

By: Greg Mitchell The old debate was: Which newspaper has the best Web site? Now Jay Rosen, the journalism professor at New York University and operator of the popular PressThink site, has this update: Which newspaper does the best job blogging?

The answer, according to Rosen and his panel (from E&P's list of the top 100 newspapers by circulation): The Houston Chronicle.

Rosen posed the question in launching a PressThink spin-off called Blue Plate Special, which will tackle one burning issue at a time. Contributors include his Blogging 101 students, others at NYU, and a few outsiders.

Their verdict: The Houston paper wins ?by a mile.? Next (in order): The Washington Post, USA Today, St. Petersburg Times, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, San Antonio Express-News.

Honorable mention: The Times-Picayune of New Orleans and The Oklahoman.

Sites were judged on the basis of ease-of-use, currency, quality of writing, thinking and linking, voice, interactivity. Blue Plate also features separate articles on the "state of blogging," in-depth looks at two sites, and a chart on individual newspapers.

Here are excerpts from the Houston Chronicle hat tip:

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The Chronicle was a runaway choice for top blogging newspaper. "The wizards of blogging in my opinion," Andre Henry says. Points-wise, it wasn't close. (128 to 69 for the second site.)

The Chronicle is not the most adventurous in what it blogs about (exception: Bar Tab) but the site does everything well, starting with its Blogs main page, which features -- before you get to any staff blogging -- a section called Chron.commons, "Blogs from our Readers." (They weren't the only ones to do this.)

"This had pretty much everything I was looking for," wrote Jessing-Butz. "It's very evident that people read these; they comment on them. The page is easy to find and easy on the eyes. The writing is fun and clear." Krase: "The Chronicle makes access to archived blogs easy."

Many of the Blue Plates singled out for praise the Chron's event-specific blogs, including Voices of Katrina ("Stories from the aftermath of the storm") and two Enron blogs: one for legal commentary, the other a newsy trial watch. "The thing that really got me was About:Chron," writes Lauren Dzura. It's editors-explain-newspaper. "It gave me a more personal relationship with the paper."

Another favorite was Shop Girl, as in girls shop. "When great online finds are just a link away, it's like having a personal shopper on your computer," said Alfuso. There is something logical about that. Special mention goes to MeMo by deputy managing editor for features Kyrie O'Connor. Her blog -- which is things she finds amusing or unusual -- began as a memo to her feature writing staff and grew into a blog, not the usual path. See her nifty FAQ too.

The Chronicle "has gone down the route I would like to see all newspapers go," wrote Toni Galanis. He pointed to Dwight Silverman, the interactive journalism editor, writing in the dead tree newspaper about the changes blogging would bring to the Chron as a whole. When Silverman announced an update to Movable Type, "he essentially marked the rebirth of the Chronicle, and sealed the newspaper's top spot in my ranking," Galanis said.