Grassroots Journalism And Its Impact On PR -- An Interview With Blogger Liz Mitton of Save Our Schools

One of the most fascinating aspects of blogging is the powerful voice it gives everyday citizens.

I'm not just talking about complaining about customer service.

While that's important -- especially to corporate and agency PR people caught in the crossfire -- it's not nearly as transformational as "watchdog" blogs that are having great success in casting light on institutions and organizations that previously were able to operate without much interference.

These citizen journalists -- through the power of their blogs -- are creating communities of like-minded individuals, generating (often-heated) discussion and shaking up the established order through their visibility and reach.

Back in July, I introduced you to a local blog called Save Our Schools, which is managed by a grassroots community group of the same name.

Save Our Schools focuses on the Fort Bend Independent School District, a highly regarded suburban district. SOS believes Fort Bend ISD can be better, and the blog has been relentless in pushing for change.

At the time, I predicted SOS would be a "must-read" by September. I was right. The site is fast closing in on 20,000 visits after just four months of operation.

Regardless of your views of the district, Save Our Schools is fascinating reading and to me, a real example of the power of blogging. I interviewed Liz Mitton, who edits the site for the Save Our Schools committee, to get her thoughts on the impact of blogging.

Mitton is a long-time public relations professional with a strong background in community relations, so she's in a unique position to provide insight for PR people and business leaders who are facing highly visible citizen journalists for the first time:

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Q: Why blog?

A. It's new. It's cutting edge. It's real time. It's mostly free. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be to set up.

A blog gives you the opportunity to post an article or piece of information quickly and have instant access to everyone on the net who shares your interests or concerns.

It's a fast way to share information -- especially with defined communities. It's also an interesting, unique way to get feedback and comments and promote community debate on local issues.


Q. Do you consider yourself a "citizen journalist?"

A. Well ... I'm a citizen. I was trained in journalism (BA in Journalism from University of Texas), I've worked as a journalist. So, Ok, you can call me that.

It's not something I thought about in those terms however when I started the blog. Most of my professional career has been in corporate public relations. BTW, there are actually several folks who work with me to do research, find articles of interest, monitor the comments, etc. All of us have different backgrounds. We don't sell ads. Don't do any fundraising and don't get paid for anything.


Q. From the beginning, you've generated a great number of visitors each day and an incredible amount of comments to each post. Are you surprised at the attention and visibility the blog has generated?

A. A little. We're always looking for new ways to expand the reach of the blog to others. In the case of the Save-our-Schools blog, our community is people who have an interest in Fort Bend ISD. It's a pretty well-defined universe and we have a well-defined reason for being (see our masthead). I think that focus is helping it gain a following.

We did an initial press release and distributed it to local media (many of whom used the release and now publish the blog address in articles, etc.) and other community websites. But I think the reason the blog gets so many visitors (and got them so quickly), is that it grew out of an existing grassroots organization base.

We had developed an e-mail list of several hundred people. The list started when we were trying to organize several neighborhoods in support of a specific issue we had at just one school campus. We asked people on the list to help us sign others up and added their e-mail contacts. We then used the list to send e-newsletters out with important information and updates on what was happening or when immediate action was needed.

This allowed us to organize quickly and efficiently to get things done -- something that before the e-mail and blogs, we would have had to use cumbersome phone chains or pay postage for mailings to do.

When we launched the blog, we already had a built-in base of people we knew would visit to get information and offer comments, etc.

At last count, our e-distribution list is over 2,000 people and quickly growing. With each e-newsletter we send out, we ask recipients to forward the message on to others who might have an interest.

We also tell people who get the newsletter as a forward how to get future updates directly. The newsletters now direct readers back to the blog via links to complete stories posted there. This has allowed us to continue to grow our base and generate more traffic on the site.

Of course, a little controversy from time to time gets word-of-mouth going as well. And we know some folks are on the list who just want to keep tabs on what we're up to.. and thats OK, too.


Q: What impact do you think the blog has had -- either on the school district or on taxpayers, parents and other interested parties?

A: We're not really sure. It's only just starting its fourth month of operation and I think we have a long way to go in getting broader attention. But we average about 300 page hits a day and our on-line poll participation numbers are also going up so I think it's continuing to gain momentum.

We do know that people within the FBISD administration are monitoring it. I think some of the local media keep an eye on it and we frequently will link to stories on their websites as well. A couple of times area papers have picked up on issues and research we break on the site and have done stories in the next few days.

It's amazing how much factual information is available via on-line government or professional organization sites or through open records requests.

I think a lot of people who do know about the site are still trying to figure out if they can trust the information we post. That's why, with the exception of the occasional editorial piece, we try to keep our information well sourced and easily verifiable.

We also try to provide helpful links to other resource sites that people may find helpful and perhaps keep them coming back.

In Part Two of the interview, Liz Mitton gives her thoughts on how PR professionals and business leaders should respond when faced with a 'watchdog' blog.

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