Blogging when you’re a journalist can really mess with your mind. Case in point is what I should or should not do with this Sacramento Bee article, covering events at yesterday’s Sacramento County Board of Supervisors hearing, which I watched online from the comforts of my home.
As the story notes, a great many residents packed the Board chambers, watching how the supes would react to Sacramento Sheriff John McGinness‘ draconian proposal to balance his budget by sacking 200 deputies. Many of those who spoke out against the cuts were current or former Sheriff’s deputies. What’s more, a lot of the testimony (including that of McGinness himself) was vivid and colorful and, at times, emotionally charged to the point of hysteria.
In other words, I got some great quotes–the vast majority of which, for whatever reason, did not appear in the Bee‘s story.
So what do I do with them? Give them up for free here, to my tiny but loyal blogging audience, or horde them like little nuggets of gold I found in a stream, waiting for a much larger story to come around that I can sell to a paper for actual money?
If I had a gigantic blogging audience, I don’t suppose this would be much of a dilemma, but I don’t. Then again, how do I build up such an audience unless I put real meat on my blog?
Anthony Pignataro 
build it and they will come. you also need to promote the hell out of your blog.
the truth is there are more stories out there then you can possibly report on. don't hold your nuggs, set them free. get your stories out. i believe you should be writing more than you can possible imagine. media is changing rapidly and the walled garden approach will not survive. this still doesn't answer how to make a living, but new models are emerging.
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