Dr. Kurt Hochenauer, the author and creator of Okie Funk, spoke to Dr. Clark’s Blogging for Journalists class today about the history and purpose of his blog.

It was started in 2004 when Hochenauer believed that Oklahoma was in desperate need of a liberal voice in our very “red” state. Overall it is a blog that provides a liberal perspective on issues that span the political sphere; the challenge however, is being original in topics that other bloggers or journalists may also be covering. Sometimes the answer is simple; find a topic that isn’t the top story.

He believes that good writing, personal satisfaction in your posts, and the influence your blog provides for your readers contribute to the overall success of a blog.

Blogging provides you with an outlet of “personal voice” that journalism through the medium of a newspaper could potentially limit. It was mentioned, though, through our discussion, that if your newspaper company is aware of your blog, there could be some level of lesser freedom of information you can get away with posting.

For me, this sort of hits home. As a worker of the Oklahoma City Zoo, I’m under a specific gag order in regards to certain information in the zoo.  So I do have to be careful in regards to what topics or photos I present on my blog.

Information regarding zoo animal births, deaths, illnesses, new arrivals, or animals that are being sent to other zoological establishments are guarded by our PR team. Until there is a Press Release on some information, it’s very important that zoo employees keep that information to themselves.