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Blogging and Journalism: Amongst the Best the Line is Blurry
temporal
With easy internet access and free blog hosting sites many people are sharing their thoughts on different topics. Some share their special interests and form groups. Others publish their creative writing. But the biggest beneficiary of blogging has been journalism - specifically citizen journalism and its impact on professional journalists.
At this time let us get some descriptions out of the way.
Journalism: reporting, writing, editing, broadcasting, as an occupation.
It flows from above that a journalist is a paid reporter working for a media organisation or as a freelancer for several media organisations. He may directly report on news or may interpret news and write view points and investigative reports. He is usually a specialist who covers a specific field or interest.
The journalists are covered by a code of conduct by the media organisation that employs them or it could be self imposed. They are team players.
A blogger could be any person who has access to a PC and internet, has a host blog and writes entries in it. They are the solo fliers. Generally, there is no compulsory code of conduct, though this distinction is increasingly getting blurred as journalists working for major media organisations are encouraged to have have their own blogs.
What is this code of conduct for journalists? Broadly it covers accuracy, objectivity, truthfulness, fairness, and impartiality. For a more detailed examination you can read the codes for Al Jazeera, CBC and BBC in order of complexity and depth.
The fault line is ever shrinking between Blogging and Journalism. Blogging - specially News and Political blogging has come of age. Gone is the period where it was words and opinions essentially unsubstantiated and based on murky half baked thoughts or hearsay borne out non-conviction and lacked clarity, vision and conviction.
Journalists - serious journalists - even if they are freelancers abide by a code of conduct, keep slant or bias to a minimum, language straight forward and error free.
In the earlier days bloggers were deemed to be free of any constraints. It was their blog, they could write whatever they wanted, they thought.
I once rejected a shoddily written, plagiarized article. The writer submitted another atrociously written article the next day. I patiently pointed out the deficiencies and errors in detail and suggested a serious re-write. He submitted a third article that was also filed under G. He complained.
In his defense the writer claimed all those articles were found acceptable and published at another site and provided a link to it. It was another site that hosted member blogs and his "articles" were "published" on that site under his blog! He was subsequently caught for plagiarizing, sacked and all his articles deleted from that site.
Today, bloggers have matured and an increasing minority is serious about their writing. And their efforts are being recognized. Read this: A Landmark for Bloggers — and the Future of Journalism.
The journalist also has a distinct advantage over the blogger. He has support of the organisation - editors, fact checkers, proof readers all help in delivering a good copy.
The blogger in most cases is on his/her own. That makes the job not only arduous but also more interesting and gratifying.
As the lines get blurred between good journalists and good bloggers, the bottom lines becomes clearer - the best among both are those where the writing is well grounded in facts, clear, lucid, precise, objective and geared for the target audience.
Blogging and Journalism: Amongst the Best the Line is Blurry
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IdeaSmith
URL
February 21, 2008
07:09 AM
And yet the journalists I know all think of blogging as 'something less'. One of them thinks that bloggers don't take responsibility for the things they say, another argues that journos are the ones doing the actual fact-finding and that it's easy for anyone to sit in an armchair (or at a computer) and pass judgement. Don't you think the real value of a blogger comes from his/her writing being opinion and not just fact? It's a different medium after all, I'm not sure the two are comparable.
Chandra
February 21, 2008
07:24 AM
I think on an average the IQ of bloggers would be significantly higher than IQ of journalists..:-). Why? Many of us professionals in our own regard. Some of us are the best. So for example, if a journalist were to publish something on education and an educationist from say Pratham were to write on education, who would want to listen to the journalist.
I have seen often that journalists write about politics. Why? because they spend somuch time on the road with citizens and politicians. But are they the best? NO. I would still trust Yogendra yadav to give me solid insights....
You can reel of topic by topic and at the end of the day one realises that journalists are good looking data collectors....a few hacks of course stand out...FEW is the right word. No blogger will match these few hacks....the so called investigative journalists...Chitra Subramanian for example.....
Sumanth
February 21, 2008
03:22 PM
Haa!! Ha!! Haa!!
What Joke?!!
"the best among both are those where the writing is well grounded in facts, clear, lucid, precise, objective and geared for the target audience."
Had it been so, then no one would have coined the term "yellow journalism".
It is a fact that Indian Bloggers lack individuality and mostly borrow MSM's paradigm and thought process.
So naturally there will be little differnce between biased journalists and bloggers. Each feed into others stories and weave some more biased articles and propagate a few more hoaxes.
Sumanth
February 21, 2008
03:27 PM
"another argues that journos are the ones doing the actual fact-finding"
Since when journalists started doing fact finding?
You feed them false data and give a bottle of Beer and they will write whatever you tell them to write.
temporal
URL
February 21, 2008
06:30 PM
iddi:
the simpler reason is obvious
not everyone can become a "journalist"
while
anyone can blog
:)
temporal
URL
February 21, 2008
06:41 PM
chandra:
i remember you brought up IQ another time also
i agree...BUT.... IQ is only one of the factors...i have discussed here the more serious ones
let us take one example...from the three links i provided for the code of conduct...choose one... then you give me three of each ... journalists and bloggers
and then we can examine each and see how they compare
***
if the list is from the top...i suspect we will find that they all adhere to a code of check and balance
if the list is random...the journalists have an edge...the blogger is the wild card...
temporal
URL
February 21, 2008
06:45 PM
sumanth:
am glad i provided some levity to your existence;)
when you sober up, please quote from the article where exactly did i refer to "indian" bloggers or journalists
Kartikeya
URL
February 21, 2008
07:20 PM
The distinction seems to be one of medium. Bloggers are enabled by the internet. The most important distinction in my view is the one between news and opinion. Thats where the "code of conduct" actually comes in.
temporal
URL
February 21, 2008
07:42 PM
K:
what you say is largely true
but is blogging only confined to news and views (opinion) only?
let us take "plagiarism" as an example
who holds a blogger accountable?
Deepti Lamba
URL
February 22, 2008
12:42 AM
Readers do and people like elephants never forget cardinal blunders in the online world;)
Kartikeya
URL
February 22, 2008
01:39 AM
Who holds reporters accountable? How many news stories in the newspaper can anyone gainfully comment on.... or challenge? With blogs on the other hand, theres opportunity to hold blogs accountable there and then.
Blogs are by and large opinion, very few bloggers do primary reporting....
Temple Stark
URL
February 22, 2008
02:48 AM
Who holds readers accountable for not being able to comprehend what's going on?
Just throwing that out there, hope you understand.
- temple
temporal
URL
February 22, 2008
02:52 AM
K:
in #9 i asked you a query
it went answered;)
and in #11 you ask who holds reporters accountable?
there are many ways to hold a reporter accountable...all major dailies here have an ombudsman...then there are govt. agencies....civil rights groups...even courts...
and watchdogs like FAIR (http://www.fair.org/index.php)
a deliberate misrepresentation is caught and exposed and often the perpetrator is punished
***
blogs are free and anonymous
and the blog owner can restrict or even delete comments....or kill the blog and move onto another one
***
now can we go to my query? if you catch a blogger lifting unattributed passages or plagiarising what recourse do you have?
temporal
URL
February 22, 2008
02:59 AM
TS:
readers cannot be held accountable
they vote - with wallet - with time
if they don't comprehend they vote with their feet
(caveat: "captured readers" in grade I - XII excepted)
;)
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