No, I’m not talking about a UFC cage match, comparison people. I found this post from a small, but extremely well written, blog from Arkansas focused on local city government issues from Springdale, Arkansas–springdalevotes.com. I gather from the article there is a bit of a tempest in a tea cup over blogging and journalism. This debate never seems to go away and really this is one of the best comparisons I’ve read in a long time:
Journalists are professionals at gathering facts and providing reliable, accurate reporting of important information. They have many professional obligations with respect to their accuracy. The articles they write are not influenced by their personal opinions (unless it is an editorial). We have many fine journalists writing for our local papers, but they are not bloggers, and I doubt they would want to be referred to as such.
The author of the Democrat Gazette Article seems to blur the lines between a newspaper’s web site and a blog. These lines should not be blurred. The two mediums serve very different purposes. Newspapers have far too many professional and legal obligations to be able to create a truly successful blog (possible exception being the “opinion†columnists — but even that is a stretch. Most seem unable to break the “weekly†writing mold). Newspaper sites are structured to provide certainty and reliability, often forcing them to move too slowly to create effective blogs. Yet, this is a good thing. No one wants their newspaper to be blogging. It would be irresponsible — we rely on them for their accuracy.
Blogging is a medium for opinion, debate, and discussion. It features well-reasoned arguments for a specific point of view and lets visitors comment with or against the author. Bloggers move quickly and post information, even if its not fully verified, for the sake of discussion. Responsible bloggers keep checking what they’ve posted and correct it when they make mistakes. People should rely on blogs for opinion and discussion, and should realize that they don’t have the same standard of accuracy that a newspaper has. The mediums serve two very different purposes.
Okay, dicker about if a blogger could be considered a journalist if you wish, but really, this explanation is as good as I can fathom.
This is indeed a well-drawn contrast between journalism and blogging. The trend for many newspapers, however, is to require their journalists to blog because parent companies recognize that print readership is down while online readership is up. Some print veterans may easily switch between the two roles, but it should not be forced in my opinion.
Connie I agree. I think journalists should write and expand on their columns using blog technology … just because I think their readers would enjoy it. I wouldn’t force them to “blog” per se, I agree. However but say having a blog-powered part of their site, a newspaper and extend their reach. Case in point, I found that link above through a Google blog search.
[...] be bloggers. Can bloggers be journalists? Who cares? I think I’d rather see a no-holds barred Cage Match between bloggers and journalists. Just no goats, [...]
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