Successful beatblogging saves, not costs, reporters their time

Nicely expressed by Daniel Victor in a post called "Why I'm beat blogging: It helps the print product too":

In a fraction of the time and effort, it accomplishes all these goals that any reporter would share:

* It can drastically increase your quantity of sources
* It can drastically increase the diversity of your sources
* It can positively develop your relationship with sources
* It allows you to stay in constant contact with those sources without picking up the phone and calling them individually
* It encourages those sources to share story ideas or current happenings
* It can lead you into background or context to your stories you wouldn’t otherwise know about

Along with these additional benefits that the new-media types love:

* It encourages a sense of community
* It gets information to people in the form that they choose
* It allows for a depth that the print product can’t achieve
* It makes the news a conversation instead of a declaration

And while you're there, read Daniel's marvellous rebuttal of some precious anti-blogging nonsense.