Welcome to Blog Country

Blogging is a valuable tool when it used to compliment journalism rather than as a substitution. Yet many people think of bloggers and journalists as these completely distinct and opposing entities that are constantly at war. Each party declaring that their occupation is nobler. But journalists and bloggers are not all that different from each other. They are both interested in gathering and disseminating information in a way that will inform and educate the public.

I think that journalists are afraid of change and what the acceptance of blogging might mean. If anyone and everyone is trying their hand at journalism (something that many believe requires professional training) than what does the future of news hold? Journalists can’t be everywhere, nor as conventions such as the “news net” teach us are they meant to be. Reporters are stationed where news is likely to occur. Often times in cases of disasters such as Huricane Katrina the observations of people closest to the event can provide the most useful and current information.

Journalists are watchdogs for the public, but who watches journalists? Now, more than ever, reporters are practicing hit and run journalism. Blogs allow informed citizens to fact check and correct misinformation. And while I do believe that blogs have their place, I can’t help but echo the sentiments of New York Times Executive Editor, Bill Keller. Often people respond to blogs haphazardly without reading what has already been said. People want their news fast. Who has time to sift through all the nonsense? It just seems simpler and easier to pick up a newspaper.

Keller asserts: “It would be easy to skirt my job and swap thoughts with you and yours, and the time flies by and at the end we have generated an exchange that will be skimmed in haste by some number of people, to what end?”

Moreover, with everyone contributing his or her own opinion on every topic imaginable, the Internet has become glutted. It is easy for people to get lost in the ever-deepening sea of information.

~ by annmariecostella on September 6, 2007.