What Have We Learned?

Both sides of the argument have rung in with their positions on the topic of amateur blog production, and it was a rough fight. The proverbial punches have been thrown, relationships strained — we all took a few days of alone time to allow our emotions to settle — and now it's just a matter of sorting through the rubble and gleaning some kind of a conclusion from this heated, contentious exploration of blogs.

So, which side came out on top? Proponents of amateur journalism claim that their attention to stories that are ignored by the traditional media elevates amateur blogs to a level comparable to professional broadcast or print journalism. Do such claims make up for amateurs' lack of practices commonly utilized in traditional journalism to guarantee high quality and safeguard against inaccuracy and bias? Quite simply, can amateur blogs achieve the same level of professionalism and quality boasted by professional journalists?

Yes. And no.

Allow us to elaborate. The case against amateur bloggers — that they lack the resources, experiential knowledge, and motivation necessary to achieve the consistent excellence maintained by traditional journalistic outlets — is missing the point.

One of the greatest assets amateur bloggers possess is their ability to cover news items from angles more established news sources, for whatever reason cannot. The blogosphere's coverage of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, for example, provides a telling example of the weaknesses of mainstream media and the strengths of amateur reporting. Long after the news cameras and political pundits tired of the plight of Katrina victims, bloggers continued to publish stories illuminating the disastrous effects of the hurricane on the New Orleans community.

And let us remind our readers that the traditional media ain't exactly infallible.

So that these amateurs might not project the appearance of professionalism in the same way traditional news outlets isn't indicative of lack of worth, merely of the structural differences between the two platforms.

The major difference between amateur blogs and traditional media outlets isn't one of professionalism, but in the level of public engagement with each platform —without mainstream media, even the most explosive story on the blogosphere wouldn't achieve any sort of mainstream recognition. Traditional news sources utilize the blogosphere as a vast resource of information, and huge amounts of reportage focus on issues first raised in amateur blogs. However, traditional journalism is not dependent on the blogosphere for its survival. Anderson Cooper and Bill O'Reilly would still find something to talk about even if all of blogdom were to mysteriously up and vanish.

But blogs need traditional media. Without the spotlight that broadcast and print journalism focus on political and news blogs, even the most sensational story would struggle to gain mainstream recognition.

Can blogs achieve the level of professionalism on display in traditional outlets? Most of the time, probably not. But really, to compare the two platforms for journalism, amateur production on blogs and traditional production in television, newspapers, websites (and their own, requisite blogs), is like comparing apples and oranges. Blogs have carved out a niche in mass media — they provide an avenue for public discourse unparalleled over the course of human history. While traditional media utilize a wide array of resources to deliver the news to a large audience, blogs are able to fill in the holes left by traditional journalism, to give voice to minority positions and to approach issues from exciting, different perspectives. The blogosphere operates based on a different set of rules.

While broadcast and print journalism has developed a strict code of conduct, the requirements of blogging necessitate a different set of rules. Professionalism, as defined in traditional media, is not the end all, be all in a new media landscape. The blogosphere provides panoply of different perspectives on all manner of things. That each bit of information might not have been vetted, fact-checked and carefully combed for accuracy isn't a death-knell for the integrity of amateur blog production — consumers get that careful attention to detail from traditional news sources. The amateur blog's role, in the big picture, is as a voice for minority expression, a means by which to stimulate dialogue and keep more traditional sources honest. And for that purpose, amateurs are truly valuable.