QandO

July 19, 2004

It's not rocket science, either
Posted by Jon Henke

This line from an LA Times story will be the source of much discussion around the 'sphere today....

But make no mistake, this moment of blogging legitimization — and temporary press credentials — doesn't turn bloggers into journalists.

Look, there's a lot of discussion about whether blogging is journalism, but I think it largely misses the point. We are not reporters, nor do many of us attempt to be. Bloggers are pundits, and blogging is journalism in the same sense that punditry is journalism.

For better or worse, that leaves blogs free to go beyond the facts that any given reporter can confirm and cite. With that box a bit less sharply defined, we can engage in the aggregation of facts reported by others.....and even speculation.

And really, how is that so different from the editorial pages of any given newspaper?

If we leave aside the somewhat derisive tone, though, the LATimes story makes some tough, but true, points about blogs....

- "However, bloggers, with few exceptions, don't add reporting to the personal views they post online, and they see journalism as bound by norms and standards that they reject."

- "...common attributes of the blogosphere: vulgarity, scorching insults, bitter denunciations, one-sided arguments, erroneous assertions and the array of qualities that might be expected from a blustering know-it-all in a bar."

- "Journalists increasingly read blogs to pick up tips. Blogs have become a network of capillaries that feed the nation's veins of information. For that reason, blogging's freewheeling, unfettered style makes it a juicy target for manipulation."

- "Blogging is especially amenable to introducing negative information into the news stream and for circulating rumors as fact. Blogging's fact-checking apparatus is just the built-in truth squad of those who read the blog and howl loudly if they wish to dispute some assertion. It is, in a sense, a place where everyone has his own truth."

UPDATE: Jesse Taylor takes a look, too. He isn't impressed. Makes this great point, too...

The independence comes from the fact that the very basic manner of participating in the medium has such low entry costs.

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