How a Blogger can become a good journalist

Spencer Critchley writes some good tips for Bloggers an newsletter publishers on how good journalists do useful work. The best piece of advice I think is If you can’t say something in plain speech, that may mean you don’t understand it well enough yet. Here’s more:

Identify your sources
Your audience needs to know where this information comes from, so they can judge its credibility.

Respect the value of people’s time
Know your point, get to it quickly, and make your content dense with value.

Use plain speech, and talk like a real person.
If a simpler word can be used with no loss of meaning, use it. Same goes for fewer words vs. more.

Reputable pro media outlets use professional fact checkers
People may be citing you as a source, so try to get the details right. Related to this: spell-check!

Opinions are not facts, even your opinions
Opinions make personal journalism lively. But be sure you know the difference between opinion and fact, and make it clear to your readers as well.