I gave a presentation for the National Center for Business Journalism this week on the subject of using social media in journalism. The event was hosted by the Kansas City Star and most in attendance were reporters and editors for daily and weekly newspapers.

While all are dabbling in new media (meaning some are blogging) few are able to embrace the full leverage of the social tools available. Some of this is due to a lack of information in an “old school” mindset, but a great deal of is due to the fact that journalists are being asked to embrace these new tools (without a raise in pay) and do so under the umbrella of the paper’s CPM ad model. In other words, go blog, we won’t give you the tools or support to actually do it well, we won’t give you a reason to have a voice and enthusiasm for building a conversation, and, by the way, here’s your page view quota.

It’s a shame that papers seem so bent on keeping their dispassionate observer stance when they have such strong brands and loyal readers just begging them to engage socially.

I caught up with David Hays, tech writer for the Star, for a quick in the field podcast – listen below. I would love to hear from some newspaper journalists who are making it work.