Kline, David, and Dan Burstein, Blog!: How the newest media revolution is changing politics, business, and culture. (New York: CDS Books, 2005).
Giving voice to the voiceless has been a favorite motto used by the press ever since the media revolution, but what happens when even the voiceless become vocal? (without help from the press) Does the press have a purpose anymore?
In blog!, David Kline believes that even though the world is at the forefront of technological growth and development, there will always be a need for other forms of media besides blogging.
That makes me, a broadcast journalism student, feel a little bit better about deciding to major in a seemingly dying career.
Blogs have definitely boomed in population over the past decade. According to blog!, more than 40,000 are created daily (in most part) by “citizen journalists” who can blog about anything from their daily routine to celebrity gossip, or more importantly, issues such as the presidential election.
People are beginning to rely on their news from blogs as opposed to news stations because, unlike news stations, blogs can be as biased and opinionated as they possibly want! They don’t have to hold anything back. Because they aren’t owned by any company, blogs tend to be more transparent than any new corporation I’ve ever relied on. Why not blog 24/7?
Blogging might be a popular way to access information, but most bloggers use the information they have seen on TV or read in a newspaper/magazine and spin it in their own direction and post it for people to see.
Blogging will never cause a reporter, like me, to lose their job for this simple reason: these bloggers (citizen journalists) will always use my story ideas and news packages for their posts. Without people like me, bloggers would be forced to go out in the world, cover events, and dig up scandals on their own. And let’s face it, bloggers are already lazy enough to let reporters do the work for them, do you actually think they will go out and break significant news stories themselves?
I’m not ripping on all bloggers. In fact I’m a fan of most. Blogs that newspapers, magazines and news corporations have set up are quite nice, but then again, they actually write and produce their own material. Other blogs that create interest or support groups are useful as well.
There will always be a need for journalists and reporters. The newspaper might be dying, but the media industry is still thriving and will be for a long time to come.
Blogging has been introduced as a competitor to the newspaper and TV station, but a little competition doesn’t hurt anyone.
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1 comment:
Good post. And you did a good job of using the content in the book to springboard into a good discussion.
One thing:
"Blogging will never cause a reporter, like me, to lose their job for this simple reason: these bloggers (citizen journalists) will always use my story ideas and news packages for their posts. Without people like me, bloggers would be forced to go out in the world, cover events, and dig up scandals on their own. And let’s face it, bloggers are already lazy enough to let reporters do the work for them, do you actually think they will go out and break significant news stories themselves?"
Hmmn. What about the blogger that are credentialed in the White House Press Corps? What about the people who blog professionally? What about the bloggers who travel to Iraq?
I think you need to qualify (in your head, if not your words) who "bloggers" are. Because there are a lot of examples of active and passive bloggers out there.
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