Andrew Sparrow on Live Blogging the General Election

14,000 words per day

It’s worth taking a moment to thank Andrew Sparrow for locking himself up in the Guardian’s offices for the last month and producing a great live blog of the General Election campaign and the eventual change of government.

He’s written an interesting piece on the practicalities of live blogging and how writing up to 14,000 words a day gave him a unique insight into the campaign. Sparrow’s a fan of the art and so am I. Live blogging is another skill that should be incorporated into practical journalism qualifications.

Interestingly, he writes:

“If journalism is the first draft of history, live blogging is the first draft of journalism.”

It’s a great line, and it certainly has merit. But Sparrow’s blog was also a collection of information from elsewhere: quotes from MPs on Twitter, the recording of Gordon Brown and bigotgate on Audioboo, the photos of Cameron and the Queen on Twitpic and so on.

Therefore, perhaps I could amend Sparrow’s statement slightly and suggest that social media is the first draft of journalism?

Anyway. Here’s a very quick sketch of how news was reported throughout the General Election campaign.

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Image credit: C4Chaos