Can Blogging equal Journalism?
Surely, blogging cannot equate journalism with unsubstantiated rumor, prejudice and gossip masquerading as informed opinion and add to that most bloggers are not accountable for what they say and worse – they prefer hiding in anonymity! Without responsible editors to correct syntax, clean the story structure or check facts, it is generally impossible to rely on anything one finds on a weblog without verifying elsewhere – often with the much-maligned mainstream media. Nonetheless, blog is a best way to make your voice heard, economically. Debate, comment, write, vote, make friends, create a community, work for social change – Get a Free Blog!
The much-praised reputation mechanism that is supposed to ensure that bloggers remain true, honest and factually-correct is, in fact, just the rule of the mob, where those who shout loudest and get the most inbound links are taken more seriously and visited!! It is the online equivalent of saying that The Times of India always tells the truth because four crores people read it, and Indian Express is intrinsically less trustworthy as it only sells 2 crores.
How blogging is changing journalism and whether blogging is actually journalism? I am not denying the significance of blogging, or the value that comes from having the unmediated opinions and experiences of millions of people available online. Blogging left the geeks behind long ago, and the wide availability of easy to use tools like India City Pages, Blogger, WordPress, b2evolution, Movable Type and Grey Matter has allowed anyone with an interest and some time to create their own online journal.
I just do not subscribe to the view that this challenges mainstream journalism, even if it does mean that sloppy reporting and analysis based on incorrect assertions are more likely to be challenged by the online community.
On Google’s Blogging Plans? Some think that Google was simply helping out an innovator in hard times. Others see it as the start of an attempt by this most successful of search engines to own the blogospace all the blogs. Another theory has it that Google will use the content from the blogs it now owns to fine tune its news service by using the bloggers as an early warning system on breaking stories. The Indian equivalent of it is IndiaCityPages.com!
Author is the Lead Web Consultant with Solution Point.
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We are living in the age of citizen media in action, away from the official, professional mediums we have as in press, radio, satellite television. Blogs have become a very important way of putting the opinion of the ordinary citizen. Through blogging views, ideas, statements and ideas are no longer given to us through filtered channels of communication but via ordinary people who want to contribute. Of course, this doesn’t mean we can from now on switch off the light on the professional media, but it means there is now room, alternative, additional, objective, non-biased news coming from other sources. Blogs are making a lot of difference, they are real live accounts by ordinary people away from the so-called neat and slick media professionals. Blogging can impart a lot of positive effects in the world. Get a free blog at http://indiacitypages.com
Journalist has a professional responsibility to verify information, check sources, print facts, portray the story from different viewpoints, and at least have a pretense of being objective (although biases are obvious and held up for everyone to see). To some extent, what journalists write goes through some sort of peer or editorial review process.
But bloggers can write what they want without any obligation to verify sources or separate facts from opinions. The only obligation they have, is to maintain their user-base. I also think that blogging revolves around a certain intimacy between the writer and readers in a way that is different from public journalism.
We feel that lack of verification and professional obligation in blogging is also undermining the legitimacy of mainstream media journalists.
Just want to say what a great blog you got here! I’ve been around for quite a lot of time, but finally decided to show my appreciation of your work!
Thumbs up, and keep it going!
Cheers
Christian