This could be subheded, “Always a Sucker for Cute Fuzzy Animals.”

Earlier today, Andy Carvin of NPR posted a tweet about NPR’s Chengdu Diary, a blog by the reporting team sent to China that will accompany a series airing May 19-23 on “All Things Considered.”

Chengdu Diary logo

Blogs like this allow visitors to get a feel for what it’s like to go to a place with a project and a purpose. It’s not just about the journalism, it’s about the crafting of stories, and a window into other lives and places.

And they give people an excuse to post video of cute, fuzzy, squawking animals.

For media organizations doing big projects, investigative reports or covering multi-day events, blogs are an ideal way to expose the process of newsgathering — and to bring something unique and human to a website.