Richard Burton - former editor of The Telegraph online

Interesting talk today from Richard Burton (not that one!), editor until a few months ago of the online edition of The Telegraph.

A victim of the Telegraph's ongoing drive towards "convergance", Mr Burton was kind enough to spend some of his recently acquired free time to come and give us, “the inside story of how one national chose to embrace the digital revolution.”

Mr Burton’s background was that of a print journalist before moving to online. Having been in the eye of the storm pretty much since The Telegraph became the first National to go online in 1994, he is well placed to give us an interesting and informative lecture on the nature of online journalism in the mainstream press today.

The best advert for online journalism is, according to Richard (I hope he doesn’t mind me being so familiar), is that it allows him, “to act like a journalist should”. Online, as opposed to print journalism, allows the journalist to remain up to date and relevant. In print media, the story can be “old-news” by the time it’s off the press. Of course the downside to this, (or maybe it’s a plus), is that the online journalist is far more accountable to his/her public. A reader can instantly offer feedback, and frequently does, to the extent that some journalists can have the impression of being stalked by their readers.

I was very interested in his telling us that online picture galleries are an effective means of boosting the “hit-tally”. I got the impressions that this aspect of online journalism was primarily an exercise in duping the ad-men into coughing up more money. Maybe it’s just the cynic in me, and I concede that I could be very wrong, but what struck me most was the feeling that one of Richard’s chief gripes with the establishment at The Telegraph was the constant pressure on him to compromise his stance in the battle between raising advertising revenue and maintaining the brand’s credibility.

I found the part of his lecture about Blogging to be both extremely interesting and pertinent. When, during our first online lecture, we were told that we would have to create and maintain our own personal Blogs, my initial reaction was, “Why the hell should anyone care about anything I’ve got to say?” Richard, it seems, agrees with me! The thought I took away from this lecture, more than any other, was that it’s not enough just to sit at a computer and Blog for the sake of Blogging. Above all else you must have something relevant or interesting to say. And as I’ve run out of both relevant and interesting things to say I am going to leave it there.