Blogging V. Traditional Journalism

During the genesis of blogging’s popularity people began to buzz with predictions that blogging could replace traditional journalism. People are still wondering that today as blogs are alive, well, and thriving. I think it makes a lot of sense why there would be so much speculation on this, but I do not agree with the idea.

The first article “Why Bloggers Can’t Replace the Work of Professional Journalists” presented some plausible arguments supporting the need for traditional journalism over blogging. Bloggers may expose people to certain ideas and shed light on stories that they may not have heard in the way that typical journalists would, however when accessing news there is a great importance for objectivity that a lot of blogs will lack. Journalists are trained to provide the public with fact based information and are generally held accountable when they do not. A blogger has the freedom of anonymity that means that they do not have to hold their work to the same standards of a traditional journalist. Roger’s suggestion that blogging could be supplementary to journalism was a wise way to describe one of the uses of blogs.

The Benjamin Carlson Article, The Rise of the Professional Blogger made me wonder: when it comes to professional blogging, where is the line between blogging and journalism? It seems it would be the dream of any unknown blogger to be discovered and employed by a publication, but would the quality of the work change? Would the content change? Is one able to freely express themselves when they go from doing something just because they enjoy it to doing it for a paycheck and representing a company?

“Why We Twitter” offers a perfect description of microblogging: “fulfills a need for an even faster mode of communication.”… “it lowers users’ requirement of time and thought investment for content generation” Microblogging is the way to get your news if you are on the go. You don’t need to be fully informed by it, but you are at least provided with soundbites and alerted to what’s important. Again, it’s no replacement for raw journalism, but it is useful.

Despite the fact that I believe traditional journalism cannot be replaced by blogging I do have a respect for what bloggers do and believe their work also serves a great purpose. They provide not only a place for people to share information, voice opinions, but they also foster a sense of belonging within the internet. This is an achievement that cannot be overlooked and something that traditional news is not really able to give us.

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