Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Blog as Future News Medium + Other Blog Related Issues

During the blog discussion, Thomas brought up a question about blogs being widely adopted/accepted in the future as a news medium. The economic recession is hitting hard across the board and as we've seen over these last few months, an increasing number of newspapers are closing down to keep from losing even more money. But what does this mean for the future of news reporting? Even if we can say televised news will remain safe, what about printed news? I certainly think that newspapers will start turning in greater numbers to an online and/or blog format because it's so much more cost effective. And as Thomas mentioned, non-mainstream sources like The Huffington Post are getting more popular. Also, The Huffington Post actually hires reporters and people to help keep the site running smoothly, so unlike some blogs there is money involved.

I think the issue of money is an interesting one, especially since the Free Flow of Information Act of 2007 only protects bloggers who earn a significant amount of their income from blogging. Do you think it's necessary for a blogger to be earning a salary for them to be considered a journalist? If so, why do you think this? I don't feel money needs to be involved to yield accurate results. As Amber mentioned, bloggers who do investigate and report news tend to be somewhat of a specialist, if you will, in the field for which they're reporting, whereas a reporter for a newspaper doesn't always know that much about the topic on which they're writing. This is isn't to say the opposite isn't true (blogger doesn't know about the issue and the reporter does) but I still think it's something to be considered. And if your information is accurate, why does profit matter so much? I know ad revenue is the main source of income for newspapers, but this isn't really the case for blogs.

So, what do you all think about these issues? I know some of this was talked about a little in class but I feel there's still a lot to be said. Additionally, since we didn't get to it during our presentation today, I was just curious how many people here use blogs as a news source? If so, are you using them for "serious" news (political news, business news, etc), entertainment news, both, or something else? Personally, I use blogs for entertainment news because I follow artists from Korea and Japan and the medium of blog serves very well as a place where everyone can share all that they know and/or have translated. If you use blogs, what attracts you to them? And if you don't use blogs, is there any particular reason why? I realize some people may just have no need for/interest in them, but I am curious if anyone actively dislikes them?

19 comments:

  1. It seems that the natural direction to for journalism is to some sort of blog format. In certain niche areas, like technology news, some of the best sources of information are currently blogs. Sites like Engadget, CNET, and Gizmodo are all entirely or partly blogs. This format is fine, and as news organizations establish themselves as reputable, it does not matter what format the news is delivered in. Many major news outlets, like the New York Times, already have blogs. In a highly technological society, putting news online in blog format allows for users to access continuously updated stories of select interest much more effectively and cheaply than traditional print news.

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  2. I think that professional blogs like news organizations' blogs are great, but blogs written by uneducated people who share incorrect information are horrible. I believe that if you can consider ridiculous columns in gossip magazines journalism than you could consider just about anything journalism. I would prefer to label organizations' blogs and accurate informational blogs as journalism and dismiss blogs written by people who aren't educated about the topic they discuss. I love that blogs provide people the opportunity to post responses in a quick and easy manner that allows misinformation to be identified and corrected more easily. Blog formats also allow a greater array of perspectives. In journalism often the opinion of the journalist seeps through the writing and thus the reader gets only that journalist's perspective. With blogs debates often unfold as more posts are added and people can see an array of perspectives on topics allowing them the ability to make more accurate and educational judgements on the topics discussed.

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  3. I use blogs for both news and entertainment, but generally view blogs as an entertainment medium. For me it's about credibility. Would you believe something from the New York Times? Or what about some random blog? Some blogs do have people out there investigating and doing legitimate reporting, but many are just commentators that rely on news reporters to give them something to talk about.

    My favorite blog is Deadspin. This is just for entertainment. For those who aren't familiar with the site, it's a joke web site about sports kind of similar to TMZ. It posts funny links with snarky commentary about the days news. I wouldn't use it as a news source, and sometimes find the content to be offensive, but it makes me laugh, which is what I want from blogs.

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  4. I agree with all of David's points, but what concerns me most about blogs becoming primary news sources is their format--they're supposed to be quick-hitting, direct, to the point--not meant for a lot of explanation or background info. We've talked about this in the past in class, but I think blogs are just another way in which our society wants to take things in quickly without fully developing an understanding of an issue. We'll learn the bullet points, but bullet points are not comprehensive.

    To be fair, reporters have known for centuries that people don't read entire news articles, which is why the most important information is put at the top of a story. But they're still expected to at least contain a full picture of the issue, and I think with blogs one can miss out on that. Sure sometimes they provide links to give you more info, but I bet very few readers follow them.

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  5. While it's true that a blogger doesn't need to be paid to be an accurate journalist, there is a certain credibility that comes with a paycheck. A journalist who gets paid has something to lose and in that way, has very tangible incentive to check their sources, protect privacy, and be generally unbiased when they could lose their bread if they're negligent, inaccurate, or a bad journalist in any other way.

    By shear freedom of speech, the blogger can tell any stories he/she wants to on the internet and no one can really do anything about it unless it's clearly slander or liable, but a substantially paid blogger is vulnerable to regulation and therefore, I think, warrants legal protection more so than the unpaid blogger.

    Money is no small issue. With money comes regulation, and with regulation comes legitimacy.

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  6. I think blogging and journalism go hand in hand, because some people prefer magazines and newspapers to blogs because they are more reliable. A lot of websites and newspapers now also have blogs to go with them. I think it depends on the topic that is being discussed because some information is not seen as reliable when only seen on a blog post.

    I agree with the idea that bloggers need to be earning a certain amount of money before being considered a journalist. Otherwise almost anyone can say that he or she is a journalist, which might discredit journalism. Also, journalists are supposed to be unbiased, while bloggers are generally bias and you're more likely to be unbiased if someone's paying you.

    I only started blogging because of this course, and I probably won't continue after the course is over. I never use them as a news source, but I like to see what other people think about topics or issues I find interesting. It's impossible to avoid blogs on the Internet. I only follow one blog, and it's my friend's who blogs about the basketball team, and I think his posts are more interesting than the ones the press runs. I don't see him as a journalist yet, but I think his blogging will lead him to become one.

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  7. There are a few big differences between blogs and newspapers. First, blog is free and newspaper is not. Price is a big consideration for readers, especially we are in the information era where information is widely available, no one is willing to pay for information any more. Second major difference is the source of the information, blog is mostly written by ordinary bloggers and newspaper are written by journalist. As a blogger there are less limitation about the content compare to newspaper, so blogger can more easily tailor the content to the reader, while newspaper need to consider from a broader population perspective. The last major difference is the way people access information. Readers can access blogs any time anywhere as long as there is internet access, but newspaper has less availability.

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  8. I use blogs as entertainment more. Still, I have concerns about credibility issues to use blogs instead of news as news medium. I do think it will be a trend that news medium would be transformed from paper-based to computer-based, but it does not necessarily mean the computerized news medium would be blogs. People believe in news because they know there is credibility inside, so that they can believe that the provided news is unbiased and evidence-based. I think blogs would have to build up their own credibility as well, in order to be trustworthy. However, I so think that blogs have replaced numerous functions of magazines in my life. Instead of checking magazines, I check blogs online whenever I am about be buy some digital products. In fact, I think blogs provide more unbiased opinion sometimes, since some magazines tend to be too commercialized and they advertise specific products in a way that I would doubt of the credibility. As for blogs, people mostly post their opinions for specific products according to their own personal experience, which actually sound more credible and useful to me.

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  9. I do not use blogs as a news source, even though there are a good amount of blogs that provide news. I just feel that blogs are informal therefore I prefer to get my news from a creditable source. With that stated, I do know that most credible news sources do have blogs in their website, but I do not read these blogs since I feel that they are more opinionated and not straight forward. There are a few blogs I do read occasionally besides our COMP 380 blog. I read a few sports blog when I am on the internet. Since these sports blogs are based on the blogger's opinion, their information provided is not always accurate. I read them for entertainment purposes and to pass my time. These sports blogs I read do have similar views as I do, so I rarely disagree with them. Other than the sports blogs, I do not read a lot of other blogs or I do not consider myself a huge blogger. With continual advancement in technology and the internet, blogs have grown a lot and people are starting to get their news from these blogs. In given time, I see that blogs are going to be a huge part in society and they are going to be a main source for news.

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  10. I do use some blogs to find out about new products or technology; especially stuff I'm interested in, but don't know a great deal about. I like the format, because it allows other users of the same product to comment on the review and may provide me with even more useful feedback. The blog format also keeps the reviewer in check, because if the comments don't match up, then I know something may be fishy. I believe this may not be as effective in investigative reporting because the public may be less familiar with the news than the journalist and the blog would therefor go unchecked by the readers. I can see the future of news being delivered in this medium, but the journalists may need to come up with a system to ensure credibility such as a certification.

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  11. Blogging as an act of journalism really intrigues me because in no way have I ever thought that this would or could be considered an occupation. I never even knew you could get a significant amount of money from producing a blog and I guess that is because of my lack of disinterest in blogs. I don't and probably will never read blogs. I also don't even know what Twitter is and why it has become such a popular thing. I don't think there is really any particular reason I am against blogs I just think I have better to do with my time they read someone talk about what they did that day or what they are feeling at that moment. Why not read a book, or watch the news? I feel that blogs are people just talking about themselves and how they feel or what they are doing which to be honest I don't care.

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  12. To me, there really isn't an issue of credibility when it comes to blogs. People complain that blogs are biased but so are newspapers and news reports on tv. I think it is impossible to present the news in an un-slanted way. If something strikes my fancy on a blog or in a newspaper then I do my own personal follow up to see what kind of information is out there. I think blogs are a really good medium because of the conversational style of blogs and also the fact that there are links. I know it was mentioned that not everyone clicks links but I know I am more likely to click hypertext of something I don't know about in the text than I would be to look up something I didn't know about in a newspaper or on TV because it is right there instead of me having to remember long enough what I didn't know to look it up. I really enjoy for instance, posts from people with personal experience in the issue. It may be somewhat jaded, but it is absolutely riveting to read things from people with lived experience. I don't feel like I can get that from a journalist with the New York Times.

    I don't use blogs for "serious" news, but do frequent entertainment blogs but they aren't all gossip blogs and a lot of what they say is valid. I go to CNN online and whatnot to find out serious news only because I have never even thought to look for a blog for serious news. The blogs that I do frequent, I happened to stumble upon because of links and tags on pictures.

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  13. Blogs as a news medium? NO WAY! I don't take blogs seriously. I think that they are just a way for people to discuss different topics. I think that blogs are way too informal to be considered news and majority of the time do not contain any factual evidence. For the most part, they are all hearsay and it is important not to use this for the basis of conversation. it would be also hard to reference these blogs and people will want more than they are willing to put out. I think that if blogs were more standardized, than maybe it would be easier to determine if they were reliable but right now, I do not think that they are a viable source of information.

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  14. I must say that I at first viewed blogs a simple personal diaries stating the going-ons and emotions in people's lives. These blogs, though, have evolved to be discussion spaces for those who read them and important new sources. I am fearful, though, because bloggers are just not held accountable for their actions. Those who are directly associated with newspapers, of course, are held to the same standards as the newspapers; I trust these bloggers, yet those who simply enter the blogosphere to state their opinions and discuss their thoughts have no standards. This scares me, and there have been too many instances where a blogger's false information has affected the world in a negative way. They're not held to standards, and until they are, I am weary to trust them.

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  15. I use blogs to get a more personalized version of a story, which by nature should be biased. The bias is what makes it realistic, since a blogger uses this medium for expression and not for accuracy. And that is exactly how it should be read.

    Blogging, however, should by no means replace the role of journalism. It is a journalist's responsibility to accurately represent information, so his/her responsibility is to the public whereas a blogger's responsibility, if any, is often times to him/herself. I think it is important to distinguish between the two mediums of information, so that blogging does not take the place of journalism as a source of news.

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  16. I use blogs in a few different ways. First, I keep up with technology news through websites such as Apple Insider (www.appleinsider.com) or Engadget (www.engadget.com). Second, I use it to keep up with news in general, an avid reader of Huffington Post (www.huffingtonpost.com) and Drudge Report (www.drudgereport.com). Reading of these sites makes up the majority of my time spent accessing news information through any medium.

    I do believe that the definition of a shield law should be expanded to protect online blog based journalists. However, these journalists should be at least partially employed by the online blog. With increasingly more online news, strictly web-based reporters must be able to protect their sources.

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  17. I don't usually use blogs as a source of news. I sometimes like to read personal blogs if somebody is taking a trip and I want to learn about what they are doing. Obviously, this is not really news and should not be considered journalism. Also, when I am trying to learn more about a topic, search engines sometimes point be to blogs. In this case, I read them. I do not however, go straight to a blog when I open my browser looking for news.

    I am a little bit confused as to what constitutes a blog and what does not. Is any website where one can post comments in a bulletin board type of format considered a blog? For example, I sometimes visit reddit.com to find links to interesting/funny news stories. Here, people can post links to news stories and make comments about them. The most viewed news stories make the front page.

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  18. I personally don't really read any blogs, but I also don't really read the news. However, I am taking a graphic design class and we had to create our own front page of a newspaper. We used www.newseum.org in order to do our research. It was really interesting to see how many newspapers actually guided you to their blog/website by putting the information on the front page. A lot of newspapers have recently stopped printing in order to go fully online. Even when you go a newspaper's website, there are many links to their own writers' blogs. I definitely think that there are many bloggers that blog for entertainment purposes only, but there are just as many that have blogs that i would consider news.

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  19. While there are advantages to paper news, they are entirely trumped by those of electronic news. Electronic news is cheaper to produce, environmentally friendly, generally more accessible, and can constantly be updated. I see very few reasons for newspapers to continue to print the full contents of their publications, particular those that cater to younger generations. It is certainly the method of news distribution of the future, so why not be prepared?

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