Bloggers are just journalists who don’t check facts
August 10, 2006 – 7:52 amby Darren
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And a lot of them haven’t gone to college either. Now before you get upset, think about my statement, and read the rest of the post. Aaron Brazell, the prickly one, has taken exception to a presentation by Om Malik at the recent WordCamp pep rally.
Om made some notable comments about “blogging being personal” in which I think he probably meant “blogging is opinion”, but despite having the opportunity to clarify failed to do so. He tried to make the point that bloggers are not journalists but rather the “journalists” who are bloggers simply leverage blogging tools such as WordPress.
Aaron is upset by what could be a valid point, made my Mr. Malik. Journalism is a tradition with a high degree of excellence. Sure, we can all find examples of completely lousy journalists who have done completely lousy jobs at journalism, but that doesn’t taint the profession as a whole. Even people who thought OJ Simpson was a murderer, didn’t stop watching football or condemn all football players because of it.
Aaron’s point went further, and I do agree that having your cake and eating it too isn’t great. But I think we should all examine the issue that was brought up. Some bloggers are doing great journalism. In fact, this week a blogger did better journalism than the the venerable Reuters news agency. But not all bloggers are world-class reporters either.
Aaron also referenced a post by Chartreuse on the same subject, where he said, among other things:
We are living in a world of Institutional collapse.
And one of the things crumbling is journalism.
Does anyone really trust the news anymore?
Does anyone really believe it?
Yes. Certainly people still believe in the mainstream media. Journalism is nowhere near this dead, and I think bloggers need to caution themselves against a certain elitism about being the only ones that “get it”. Some people are the only ones who “get it” when they hear messages from other planets. Your own premature enlightenment may be a real problem, especially if you’re trying to sell things to the masses.
One of the reasons that people still believe in journalism is because journalism has a long history of having a strong ethical code. The code is quite detailed, and starts with:
— Test the accuracy of information from all sources and exercise care to avoid inadvertent error. Deliberate distortion is never permissible.
As far as I know, the ethics of blogging is nowhere quite as codified or advanced as that. I know “for a fact” the methods used by many bloggers when it comes to “reporting facts”. I think bloggers will need to do a great deal more to convince the average person of their credibility before they’ll be considered a primary news source.
Are some bloggers and modern media companies approaching these levels? Undoubtedly. And the experiments that bloggers are doing in journalism are quite impressive and necessarily innovative, but I caution against writing off the whole field of journalism in favor of blogging.
What are your impressions of bloggers as journalists?
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9 Responses to “Bloggers are just journalists who don’t check facts”
I don’t think I disagree with Om on the excellence of journalism. Please understand that.
By Aaron Brazell on Aug 10, 2006
I think I got that part. My impression was that you seemed to feel he was a bit self-serving to discount bloggers as less than journalists. I think the issues you brought up are really important.
My tangent, which I’ve started here, is mainly about bloggers elevating their art. I think it could be very easy for people to get excited about the “new media”, and rightfully so, but I think really top-notch journalists are excellent at their craft, and their craft has a set of traditional principles. I know I haven’t been taught a code of ethics as a blogger, and I’m not sure all bloggers are really attempting to build credibility.
Journalism = credibility. Without you have nothing, and I think the same is true about blogging, but the profession of journalism has a historical role of attempting to ensure integrity, and there’s no such equivalent for bloggers. From that standpoint, Om might be right that bloggers are a few steps down the totem pole from journalists.
I’m so interested in this whole convergence of new media/old media that I think I might try interviewing some journalists, as well as bloggers, to see how their profession is changing in light of the revolution of blogging.
By Darren on Aug 10, 2006
I haven’t been impressed with journalists for a very long time. I see them get it wrong all the time, both print and television. It’s also clear that mainstream media is biased in favor of the liberal point of view.
I tend to trust bloggers much more than I trust traditional media. In most cases at least I know if there is a bias. Another thing to consider is that most bloggers are simply doing what they are doing for the love of it. (and a few ad-sense clicks) But journalist are almost always catering to a much larger conglomerate that includes hungry shareholders.
By Big Roy on Aug 11, 2006
Big Roy, thanks for the comments.
Bias is true, for sure. But bloggers are humans with biases of their own. I think bloggers with high standards who can eliminate their bias to a degree should do quite well.
By Darren on Aug 11, 2006
Roy, I agree with you totally on this. I have more than 10 years freelance journalism background. Most of them, I had to worry more about insignifact things- whether the editor will like my writing. I have a breaking news but I am not sure if the editor will be interested to publish. This kind of thing.
By Razib Ahmed on Aug 11, 2006
The line between journalism and entertainment is being blurred from both sides. We want credible information, and we want to be entertained, preferably at the same time. That’s why CNN now sucks and people are more informed from watching The Daily Show.
As a blogger, I want to primarily entertain my readers, but also provide some useful information if I happen to have it. However, I do not consider myself a journalist because I do not want to shoulder the responsibility of that title for the exact reasons you stated here. But even if I say that, some people will still think of me as a (wannabe) journalist just because I throw up some cheesy posts of sf.metblogs.com. I don’t know what to do about that. It is a weird position to be in.
Just because we blog doesn’t mean that we want to be journalists. However, there is some great journalism going on in blogs, and those people should be put in a different category from me.
By Lauren on Aug 11, 2006
Couldn’t agree more. Well, since I don’t really think many journalists do real fact-checking any more, maybe I don’t technically agree with the title. But I agree with the concept.
By Skeptic on Aug 13, 2006