Rosen: Blogging is not journalism
"Blogging is one universe," Jay Rosen says, in an argument that goes against the grain but makes an awful lot of sense, something he does quite often. "Its standard unit is the post, its strengths are the link and the low costs of entry, which means lots of voices.
"Jounalism is another universe. Its standard unit is 'the story.' Its strengths are in reporting, verification and access-- as in getting your calls returned.
"...Bloggers are speakers and writers of their own invention, at large in the public square. They're participating in the great game of influence called public opinion. And they're developing, mostly through labors of love, what I've called an extremely democratic media tool.
"Big Journalism frustrates and matters for the same reason: it's an institution, with the machinery set in place for extracting, checking, editing, packaging and distributing news and information over earthly expanse. By maintaining this machinery through time, and disciplining themselves with a code, the big organizations involved create an asset--trust, reliability, credibility, visibility, brand, icon--that is very hard to match or overcome.
"Blogging is not journalism. When we separate these two things, we honor both."
Apr 19, 2004 | E-MAIL | SAVE | PRINT | PERMALINK | DISCUSS(2)
Discussion
2 comments about 'Rosen: Blogging is not journalism'Missing from this piece: "There are blogs and then there are blogs."
Much depends on the standards of the blogger.
Posted by S.W. Anderson at April 21, 2004 9:36 PM
What is journalism? Is it getting the story out? In part it is. As one who grew up eagerly looking forward to reading the daily paper, I often wonder if journalists are doing more than "just getting the story out" nowadays. I think most people would agree there is more than a little bias in the reporting that is done by the mainstream news media today. I'm not sure that was always the case. It seems to me, back in the day, opinions and bias were left to the editorial pages and strict news reporting was the responsibility of the rest of the paper. It is now difficult to distinguish between the front page and the editorial page. Who does not believe that the Bush memo story, as reported by the New York Times and others, would have been checked and double-checked had indeed that story been about John Kerry. These shenanigans reflect poorly on the credibility of the mainstream news organizations. In the case of the Rather report, bloggers did what CBS lacked the ability or the interest in doing:checking the facts. So if journalism is about getting the story out, so, in my opinion, is bloggiing. People are smart enough to figure out what is LEGITIMATE news, whatever the source. What bloggers and mainstream journalism types must now do is figure out ways to work together in the interest of getting a factual news story out. We have the technology. Let's use it for the common good.
Posted by AProudRepublican at September 28, 2004 6:44 AM
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