MyDD :: Are bloggers journalists?

Are bloggers journalists?

by BrionLutz, Tue Jan 30, 2007 at 10:16:14 AM EST

In Matt's piece on Iowa nurses he made the following comaprision.

"The dynamic reminded me of the hostility that a lot of journalists feel towards bloggers, seeing us as competitors rather than as a resource that can improve their work."

Love the blogosphere but 99.9% of bloggers are not journalists by any stretch of the imagination.

If we define journalists as reporters trained to investigate the facts, check and confirm those facts and have third party (editors) monitor the process to make sure the story is accurate and factual, probably only 75% of the news media meets that criteria.

Much of the traditional media today consists of opinion and commentary, not journalism (Fox News for example), and that would describe the bloggers.

The example of Matt's story on Iowa nurses was really an interview and Matt's opinions. Informative and interesting but commentary not journalism.

The example of Fox News trying to smear Obama and Clinton with the "Madrassa" story is another example of opinions and commentary masked as news and journalism.

I think that's where the "hostility" of journalists to bloggers comes in...the journalists have to get multiple sources, confirm the source's story, fact check, sell it their editor who grills them on the facts and content while bloggers just have to blog.

If bloggers were journalists then the blogs would look more like the online version of a newspaper. As it is, material that appears on blogs is assumed to not be fact checked, not confirmed, not passing any kind of editorial bar...not journalism.

Nothing wrong with that, blogs are great places for people to discuss the issues and serves a purpose of creating community discussion of issues that has been lost. But journalism it's not.

Tags: Bloggers, Journallists (all tags)

Permalink :: 6 Comments :: Post a Comment

Re: Are bloggers journalists? (none / 0)

Most Bloggers are not journalists which is why i find it strange that journalists would see us as competitors. Who really should fear us is columnists. That would be a more fair comparison. Maybe that's why Broder and others hate us so much.

by maddogg on Tue Jan 30, 2007 at 01:29:34 PM EST

Re: Are bloggers journalists? (none / 0)

"Most Bloggers are not journalists which is why i find it strange that journalists would see us as competitors."

Well...bloggers are demanding press credentials and media access.

Since the blogs are more like semi-private/public clubs than media, it does create an interesting situation.

by BrionLutz on Tue Jan 30, 2007 at 04:08:30 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Are bloggers journalists? (none / 0)

Nuance.

I didn't say that ALL bloggers are not journalists. Some are. Some use their blog to present first hand accounts of events. People who do that should ask and get press credentials.

by maddogg on Tue Jan 30, 2007 at 05:14:16 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Are bloggers journalists? (3.00 / 1)

Hm... I agree with you up to this point, but there's something about this one paragraph I'm not so sure about. From what I've seen, the section of traditional journalism that complains about blogs isn't the productive, going-out-and-reporting sector that has to do all this hard stuff. The ones complaining about blogs, at least as far as I've seen, tend to be in the editorial/op-ed wing of "journalism". Among the kind of journalists who do actual reporting, they seem to tend to view the blogosphere as just another thing to report on, and if anything seem to be excessively enthusiastic about the blog phenomenon.

And this would make sense. After all, blogs don't pose any threat to that part of journalism that does reporting; bloggers actually depend on the reporting part of traditional journalism, since you'll notice that most blog posts just start with a link to a traditional news source (or a link to someone who links to a traditional news source) and then comment on the event being linked to. The op-ed sector of journalism, on the other hand, has much more reason to see blogs as competitors and thus to complain about them...

by Silent sound on Tue Jan 30, 2007 at 04:18:35 PM EST

Re: Are bloggers journalists? (none / 0)

And let me add to the good stuff you already wrote: Maybe if there really is a serious journalist pissed off by bloggers, then you wonder if he is more pissed off at his fellow journalists not doing their homework when working on an article.

by Pravin on Tue Jan 30, 2007 at 04:27:17 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Are bloggers journalists? (none / 0)

"From what I've seen, the section of traditional journalism that complains about blogs isn't the productive, going-out-and-reporting sector that has to do all this hard stuff."

I've not really seen any journalists complaining about the bloggers. Most have attached blogs (ability to discuss online) to their articles.

I get the feeling there's a bit of projection going on, imagining "hostility" when none has actually been expressed.

My guess is it's more in the media rooms etc. where journalists who need access to people and equipment to meet deadlines find bloggers clogging things up.

You may also find journalists a bit peeved at bloggers who don't have to do all the due diligence of actual reporters of talking to people, getting facts, checking facts, confirming facts and then getting vetted by editors making sure the story is factual.

by BrionLutz on Tue Jan 30, 2007 at 04:41:12 PM EST
[ Parent ]

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