Some good, down-to-earth advice from Matt Sokoloff at Lost Remote about how newspaper bloggers should approach what they do, including:
1. Have a voice – The key isn’t about having a bias but rather being human. News affects people including yourself, don’t be afraid to talk about it.
2. Don’t just post wire stories.
3. Engage with your readers – Not only should you solicit comment but you should also respond to them.
and probably the most important:
4. If you don’t enjoy it, you shouldn’t be doing it – you can always tell when you are reading a blogger who enjoys blogging.
I would echo each of those points, which boil down to a) be human; b) be interesting; c) be engaged and c) have fun. One of the other tips from Matt (who is the interactive product manager at the Orlando Sentinel) is to use full-text feeds, something I wish a lot more newspapers did. The Guardian just switched to doing so, and I hope others follow suit.