The Journalist, Rowlandson (1786)
I have read it many times. “Bloggers are not journalists“. Like most absolute statements, it is not true. Some bloggers are journalists, regardless of scholastic training. Certainly journalists existed before journalism schools, and exist despite them. But the larger objection to the statement is “duh”, of course the two may not be the same, but they don’t need to be.
On blogs, the freedom to immediately comment and debate the author’s position puts the story to a unique litmus test. Holes are poked, assumptions disputed, in the here and now, before all to see. The story is debated at the source, on the author’s home turf. This is not so with the traditional journalist’s version which, without bloggers, is insulated from immediate mass public comment at the source. Yes, some citizens may be selected & allowed a pass through the velvet rope to the hallowed op-ed soapbox. There, the journalist’s version can be challenged on the venue it was published, but only in small controlled doses. A censored debate is no debate at all. In blogging, the doors are wide open (except for Seth’s and others) for all to challenge and stir up, to separate the wheat from the chaff. A blogger hosts a dialogue, the journalist a lecture. Neither is better, but both are necessary.
But here is the big difference. Irresponsible journalists are more dangerous than irresponsible bloggers. Most bloggers are not reporting news firsthand but are commenting on the news written by journalists. Most people I think understand this difference. A blogger is like an artist, interpreting the reality created by journalists who have had the responsibility of accurately reporting it. And here lies the danger. As the artist Man Ray once said, “I have no problem with bad art. Bad art cannot hurt you. But a doctor, that’s different. A bad doctor can kill you.”
One man’s opinion.
I was impressed with the respect blogging received at the recent Inman conference. The theme was loud and clear the good blogging is citizen journalism and here to stay. Lar
I think one of the main objections of journalists is that bloggers do not check their sources. The problem with that objection is that the blogger’s source is usually the journalist.
Another poor objection is that journalists report the news objectively while a blogger imposes a subjective spin or commentary. The reality is that all news is spun by virtue of the choice of words, images and such included in the report. Even the headline conveys a slant.
The bottom line is that everyone can have a voice to gather, report, or comment on events and journalists no longer own the monopoly on information dissemination.
yep