Last week, I asked for some on tips on why news organizations should link to external sources.
I wanted your best reasons, and you happily provided them. Six of you answered via the Publish Tip Form I embedded in that blog post, and seven of you replied on Twitter.
You can find my favorite answers in this guest post published yesterday at BeatBlogging.org.
Here’s an excerpt:
“4. Because we absolutely do not know everything, but we know where to find out most of what we don’t know.
The days of your news organization existing as a monopolistic source of local information are over, and your readers know it. They browse local, national, international, and topical news and commentary in more places than you call “news.” And if they don’t, they hear it from their friends on any one of a dozen social networks. They know that you don’t know it all. And so do you.
But you’re the journalist.
You’re the filter. You’re the person in town who knows everyone who knows everyone. You’ve got the sources, whether they’re people you talk to at the community center, the city council meeting, the police station, or their Live Journal page. Bring what they know to your readers as directly as possible: Link to them.“
Lots more where that came from…
…and check out the conversation on Twitter about the post. It’s mostly RTs, but in that mix you’ll find some great journalists to follow.
Awesome Bonus Link: Wilmington StarNews Editor Robyn Tomlin steps up to answer her colleagues who might think of linking to your rivals as some sort of “journalistic blasphemy.”