Q&A with LA Times biz columnist Hiltzik

Michael Hiltzik, who writes the Golden State column for the business section of the Los Angeles Times and also has a business blog, was interviewed by the Online Journalism Review at USC.

Hiltzik, who started his blog in October, explained the difference between what he writes in his colum and what appears on his blog: “the column is supposed to be oriented for California business and economy, California issues. And although I’m always sort of probing the outside of that envelope, I have a lot of interests that aren’t necessarily pure business. I was looking for a way to talk about politics, culture. And beyond that, there are things that come up that are within the column’s scope, that aren’t big enough for the column.

“A good column topic has to have a certain heft. There are a lot of things that happen that just aren’t going to make it. I mean, they might be worth three or four paragraphs, but not 1,000 words. So I saw the blog as an opportunity to do some of that.”

Hiltzik also discusses what happened the first time someone wanted to edit something in his column that appeared earlier in his blog, which is not edited. And he discusses the different readers he has on his blog vs. those who solely read his column in the printed paper.

See the interview with Robert Niles here. For any journalist or columnist thinking about starting a blog about their beat, it should be required reading.