Blogging and Journalism Technorati Blog Directory Top 100

Blogging and Journalism

• • Technorati Blog Directory Top 100 Blogs Extraordinary Ordinary guy in Japan Baghdad Burning Knowing and Doing Media. Crit. com NYTimes/blogs

• 1998…. . Matt Drudge • DRUDGE REPORT • bloggers threaten journalism

BLOGGERS vs. journalists • “Everything I print from my apartment, everything I publish I believe to be true and accurate. ”--Matt Drudge

Bloggers vs. JOURNALISTS Doug Harbrecht, President, National Press Club, 1998 “Real journalists live, pride themselves on getting it first AND right; they get to the bottom of the story, they bend over backwards to get the other side. Journalism means being painstakingly thorough, even-handed, and fair. ”

JOURNALISTS Doug Harbrecht to Drudge: “Aren't you coarsening the public discourse? ”

“It’s not clear yet whether blogging is anything more than CB radio. ” -John Markoff (New York Times Technology Reporter) “Traditional journalists look at bloggers like Major League Baseball players look at some guy in the cheap seats yelling advice. ” • Perlmutter, in Palser article

BLOGGERS vs journalists • We’re fighting against journalism in the hands of an enthroned few, who speak in a voice of phony, unearned authority to the passive masses • Mainstream press IS politically biased, – or they are ignoring or suppressing important stories, – or they are out of touch with ordinary people’s concerns, – or they are merely passive transmitters of official utterances.

BLOGGERS vs journalists “We can fact check your ass off!”

SHIFT IN POWER • Drudge: “There is a hunger for unedited information…”

SHIFT IN POWER • Hunger for non-objective information?

SHIFT IN POWER Jay Rosen, NYU Journalism professor: “We’re in an…“Almost a feudal period where there will be many more centers of power and influence. ”

BLOGGERS=PAMPHLETEERS • 1700 s IN ENGLAND • “new media” = pamphlets

Daniel Defoe/Robinson Crusoe

Key moments for BLOGS • Lewinsky scandal • Trent Lott’s bigoted birthday salute to Strom • Rathergate

ECONOMIC REASONS WHY JOURNALISTS ARE THREATENED BY BLOGS • Bloggers threaten the foundation of the commercial media system (Accuracy) – Professional staff – Advertising – Readers – Newspaper’s accuracy holds it all together

ECONOMIC REASONS WHY JOURNALISTS ARE THREATENED BY BLOGS Meanwhile… Bloggers have no overhead Can stick with a story forever Can specialize in totally narrow “beats” with expertise Not expected to be accurate Can target really narrow segments May already be at the scene of a news event

EMOTIONAL REASONS WHY JOURNALISTS ARE THREATENED BY BLOGS • Blogs = the 5 th Estate (we can fact check your ass!) – Circulate bloopers, outtakes, pranks, jokes, and embarrassing performances by big shots. • Blogs keep stories going Dan Rather and Connie Chung

NOW THE WAR IS OVER • Bloggers and journalists are WORKING TOGETHER – “as a symbiotic ecosystem” – 5 th estate is GOOD for journalism – Blogs as conduits: good for journalism

TRUST Jay Rosen (NYU Journalism professor): “Blog responsibly, and you'll build a reputation for being a trusted news source. Don't, and you won't have a reputation to worry about. "

Blogs can be journalism • When a blogger writes up daily accounts of an international conference, as David Steven did at the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development, that is journalism. • When a magazine reporter repurposes a press release without checking facts or talking to additional sources, that is not. • When a blogger interviews an author about their new book, that is journalism. • When an opinion columnist manipulates facts in order to create a false impression, that is not. • When a blogger searches the existing record of fact and discovers that a public figure's claim is untrue, that is journalism. – BARB PALSER, QUOTING REBECCA BLOOD