The “blogpocalypse,” as Andrew Beaujon from Poynter.org coined it, at the New York Times is ongoing. According to Poynter, the Times has been shuttering blogs for the past year and a half. The Green blog was closed earlier last year, upsetting the likes of the Columbia Journalism Review science writer Curtis Brainard. Meanwhile, David Pogue’s departure to Yahoo last October saw the demise of his tech column/blog, Pogue’s Post.
Reasons for closing the paper’s blogs in a digital world included the paper’s blogging software not working well with the redesigned pages. Meanwhile, other blogs weren’t getting the traffic needed to sustain the resources being put into maintaining the content. According to Poynter, the paper will eliminate or merge more than half of its blogs. Currently, 41 blogs are listed on the site, but several have already been merged and remain listed on the blog directory page. Our Vocus Media Research team has been keeping track, and here is list of the blogs the Times has eliminated or merged.
Economix – This blog was located in the business section of the Times website, where journalists and economists analyzed the news using economics as the window to frame that news. Clicking on the Economix link from the Times online directory now links to the Upshot, which covers politics and policy and is led by David Leonhardt, a former Washington bureau chief and Pulitzer Prize winner for his columns on economics.
India Ink – This blog covered India, including the country’s politics, economy, culture and everyday life. It has since moved to the world section of the New York Times website, appearing alongside the rest of the paper’s coverage. The Twitter handle continues to exist at @nytindia.
Gadgetwise – The paper’s tech blog, covering products, including how to buy them, how to set them up and how to search for the best deals on tech products, has been merged into the Personal Tech section of the paper’s site. It joins State of the Art column by David Pogue, who still contributes to the paper, and the App Smart column by Kit Eaton. The message from the Times notes the “change in presentation will provide readers with a single destination for all important and timely personal tech new.”
The Lede – The New York Times also eliminated The Lede, a blog that offered commentary and analysis on breaking news, foreign affairs, journalism and culture. It also provided readers with curated content from the Web. According to the site as of a few days ago, the blog’s regular features, including live coverage of breaking news and social media discussions will continue at the Times but will be in regular national and international coverage. Lede contributor Robert Mackey is now penning a column called Open Source that can be found in the World news section.
