Can Bloggers be Credible Journalists?
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
We use blogs every day to find sources, story ideas and general news, but is all of this information accurate?
According to a study done by PRWeek and PRNewswire, 52 percent of bloggers think they are journalists, but Jeremy Porter disagrees with this idea.
His argument is that many bloggers just copy and paste what others have already said, making it harder to source information. The speed of the Internet itself becomes a problem when something that's not true goes viral.
What makes this information any less credible than that of the big media companies? Even they use blogs and other social media as sources in their articles.
Porter says, "It comes down to the quality, accuracy and authenticity of the content."
Major media companies have an advantage in this, but today many people trust their peers over what they see on television or read in newspapers.
Some of the people who answered yes to the question of if they are a journalists are definitely credible, but it all comes down to your own judgment to discern what is and isn't.
3 comments:
I agree that there lies the question of whether or not bloggers are journalists, and who is to say what they are blogging isnt just as credible as someone writing for the local paper. I strongly feel that you should use your own judgement. Anyone can write something and think they are a journalist. Anyone can video something from their phone and put it on the internet. They probably think they are are a reporter just as those who repeat the news everynight on our TVs.
We all need to remember that we should take what we read in any form and realize that there is more than likely some bias, opinion, and stretch of the facts. How can anyone, journalists or bloggers truly write anything in their own words without plagiarizing anothers facts.
I feel that it is not appropriate to put all bloggers into the same category. Some bloggers write about news, events and issues being challenged, and that makes them journalists because they are presenting facts along with their opinions. However, other bloggers write about personal endeavors. In those cases, the content of the blog is not necessarily important to readers, making them seem less like a journalist.
I specifically brought this up during class as I felt like I was doing just what the article said - rewording another article and then throwing my spin or opinion into it. After reading more blogs, I am beginning to understand that it would take a significant amount of research to find blogs on topics of interest that would be worth following - and trusting that the journalist or writer behind it is giving all the information.
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