From The Editor: For The Bee, more blogs on more and more topics

Bear with me for a minute if you don't read blogs, because I'm going to try to change your habits.

If you do read blogs, hang in for a bit as well, because this form of Internet communication seems to split people between the do-reads and don't-reads.

For the uninitiated, "blog" is a broad term applied to a vast galaxy of expressive forms on the Internet. The word used to be short for "web log," but long ago became part of the Internet language on its own.

Some blogs are online journals, others are opinion forums. Many are anonymous, and quite a few have established themselves – or their writers – as opinion-makers and trusted sources.

Blog readers know all that, of course. Some find blogs – especially political blogs – superior to "mainstream media."

Yet a recent Harris Interactive survey found that more than half of Americans don't read political blogs at all, which gets back to the divide.

The Bee's blogs have become a core part of sacbee.com and are expanding in variety and number.

Some of our most popular so far have focused on pro sports teams: the Kings, the San Francisco 49ers and the Oakland Raiders.

The roster also includes entertainment, gardening and politics.

In the past two weeks, we launched a crime blog (called Sacto 9-1-1) and a real estate blog by beat writer Jim Wasserman.

The crime blog is a mix of news, offbeat stories and public safety information.

The other day I found a brief item on a local crimestoppers' list of two "wanted" suspects and an up-to-the-hour post on four juveniles arrested in connection with some burglaries in the Pocket neighborhood.

Blog editor Anthony Sorci also threw in a link that day to an Orange County Register story on the sentencing of a guy who hit Mike Piazza (then playing for Oakland) in the head with a water bottle at Angel Stadium last year.

Wasserman, meanwhile, has posted frequently on his "Home Front" real estate blog.

The posts reflect the range and reach of his reporting: news on interest rates, the Fed picture, the market and more. He is also sprinkling in photos and video clips.

The blogs take advantage of the Web's capacity for breaking up information to suit special interests – going narrow and deep.

That's a contrast to our approach for the paper, which is organized and edited for a broad audience.

Our bloggers still report actively for the paper and sacbee.com; in fact, the blogs can improve their core work by expanding their connection with readers.

You can find a list of our blogs on the sacbee.com home page by looking for the "blogs" tab at the top of the page. You also can go straight to the blogs page at www.sacbee.com/blogs.

* * *

Beginning Wednesday, The Bee's twice-weekly auto section will have a new name and a new editor.

The former Wheels section will be renamed Drive and will be produced by the special sections staff in our advertising department.

The Bee newsroom will continue to cover cars in our news and features sections.

Longtime Wheels editor Mark Glover will move into a full-time business reporting role in the newsroom.

Readers will be glad to know that the advertising department editors plan to retain popular features such as the Click & Clack column.

Lisa Butt is the new Drive editor; reach her at lbutt@sacbee.com.

The changes are effective beginning Wednesday. The section will continue to appear Wednesdays and Fridays.

About the writer:

• Reach The Bee's editor, Melanie Sill, at (916) 321-1002.