Blogging and Journalism

It’s a fact that blogging has taken over the internet. On each virtual corner is someone’s blog, whether it be a personal diary or a blog of pertinent information. Some think blogs will soon take over the news media. My research topic for this blog dives into the effects of blogging on journalism, specifically newspapers.

As a journalist, I’m curious as to what my future holds. Will blogging, or citizen reporting, be the end of professional media as we know it? Or will blogging simply give newspapers a new burst of energy to find that special niche that bloggers could never fill?

Personally, I’m interested in discovering more about blogging and how it became such a popular pastime. I’d like to know what it is that makes blogs so popular. More specifically, I’m curious what newspapers are doing to compete with the fairly new concept of blogging. I’m also curious as to the specific impacts blogging has on newspapers. I hope to answer these questions, as well as many more, in my research.

Though my profession is in the weekly newspaper business, my research topic will focus more on the larger newspapers such as USA Today, as I feel they are greater effected. My targeted audience will be that of journalists, specifically, newspaper reporters.

Keywords: citizen reporting, blogging and journalism, blogs and newspapers, blogs in newspapers, credibility in blogs

Websites:

1.) Title: Taking Tsunami Coverage into Their Own Hands By Steve Outing
Address: http://www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=76520
Description: The world turns to citizen journalists for eyewitness accounts and more as the Tsunami crisis unfolds.

2.) Title: Blogging, Journalism and Credibility By Rebecca MacKinnion
Address: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20050404/mackinnon
Description: This article contains thoughts from a conference titled, “Blogging, journalism and credibility: battleground and common ground.”

3.) Title: Newspapers woo bloggers with mixed results by Greg Sandoval
Address: http://www.news.com/Newspapers-woo-bloggers-with-mixed-results/2100-1038_3-6078415.html
Description: An article on blogs and how they are challenging journalists.

4.) Title: Bog or cog? Blogs forcing newspapers to re-examine role by Hays Goodman
Address: http://www.newsandtech.com/issues/2006/06-06/nt/06-06_blogging.htm
Description: Newspapers are taking a pro-active approach to blogging by creating their own blogs.

5.) Title: Blogs and journalism need each other by J.D. Lasica
Address: http://www.jdlasica.com/articles/nieman.html
Description: The transparency of blogging has contributed to news organizations becoming more accessible and interactive.

Blog preamble

Personal publishing and blogs have had a tremendous impact on journalists around the world. For newspapers, the impacts can be seen as both positive and negative.

In my blog, I intend to dive into the effects blogging and personal publishing have had on journalists. I hope to include both personal feelings about blogs as well as research into what others are saying about blogging and journalism and how the two are, or are not, correlated.

On the positive side, journalists have so many tools to access to ensure accuracy and in journalism, accuracy is key. Blogs are just one more resource for journalists to use. Blogs can also help journalists look around and see exactly what people think about many different topics, giving them a different kind of source of information. Overall, I think the creation of blogs sets higher standards for journalists to follow.
Is a blogger and a journalist the same thing? The obvious answer is no. For one, bloggers who are paid probably make a lot more money than journalists! Though technology has given more people the opportunity to be “reporters,” I think there are several differences between a reporter and a blogger.

One difference between a reporter and a blogger is that there is no middleman, or editor, when it comes to blogging and typically, blogs are not grammatically correct. To me, editing is the main key between a reporter and blogger. I would call a blogger a citizen journalist. As those who send in photos, news releases and tidbits of information, whether submitted online or straight to the newspaper, I would say a citizen journalist is the key to revolutionizing newspapers everywhere.

Another important difference in bloggers and journalists is that journalists are supposed to be fact seekers. They seek information and they report on it. You must not only be accurate, but truthful. Bloggers do not typically have to abide by any rules and are not held to the same standards as journalists. Blogs may contain opinions, not facts, another huge difference. Journalists have guidelines to follow when reporting and are held to a different, possibly higher, standard than a blogger.

As a journalist myself, I am not intimidated by blogs. I find that they can be more useful than harmful. As technology explodes, especially in the internet world, I suspect newspapers will find ways to use blogs to help booster their success instead of letting blogs hinder success.

I find other forms of personal publishing useful to journalists and newspapers as well. The recent explosion of YouTube is just one of those forms. YouTube has allowed anyone with a camera to broadcast to the world. To me, this gives newspapers more possibilities. Journalists cannot be everywhere but everyday citizens are and at every major event, from a huge concert to a tragedy, someone took a picture or captured something picture worthy.

The most recent example I can think of is the bridge collapse in Minnesota. This was a huge event for newspapers everywhere and having YouTube and other similar sites gives news agencies the opportunity to use these videos to enhance their coverage. There were everyday, non-journalists at the scene of this tragedy, snapping pictures, taking videos and in the news coverage that followed, these pictures and videos were used. To me, this is just another tool journalists and newspapers can use.

As for the future of these technologies, I do not think personal publising will be the end for journalists. I see personal publishing, especially citizen reporting, becoming more popular and as a result, being used more by news organizations. I don’t, however, predict it will take over the role of a traditional journalist.

In my weblog, I hope to seek out evidence to the theories mentioned above. I hope to also dive more into the concept of personal publishing by having my own blog and experiencing “citizen reporting” for myself.

Welcome to my blog!

My name is Amanda and I am an East Carolina University graduate. Go Pirates!! I majored in English, minored in Journalism and ended up in the journalism world. Now, I’m hooked and have been working for smaller, weekly newspapers every since. That can be construed as both a good and bad thing, depending on which way you look at it!

Ever since landing my first job at a small newspaper, I’ve come to realize just how different, and special, smaller papers are. We call ourselves true community newspapers. We’re the papers you’ll see your 100-year-old grandma in. We’re the ones sitting in community organization meetings, not to report, but to participate. We not only report on our communities but live in them too!

I’m currently finishing up some graduate level classes at UNC-CH (Go Tarheels!!) where I hope to eventually receive a certificate in Technology and Communication. So far, I’ve managed to get through 2 classes with dial-up Internet. I’m proud to report I only lost my temper once. I’m very proud of myself!! It seems like a never-ending battle but I’m determined to win it, high-speed or no high-speed.

This blog is an assignment for one of my classes. I’m very new to blogs and am trying a new understanding of the ‘blogging world’ and hopefully develop an intelligent blog on how blogging is affecting newspapers. I’m going to try to make it as informative as I can but it may take me awhile to get a grasp on WordPress. So far, we aren’t getting along. But alas, all things come to those who wait…or something like that.