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.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Amateurs as Professionals
As blogging has developed and evolved over the last decade, blogs have enjoyed a seemingly endless sequence of explosive moments in the media spotlight. It is in these moments that amateur bloggers—you and me—are known to capture the hearts and the steady readership of an ever-expanding mass audience. As online journalism continues to gain momentum and print media is slowly fading, it is no wonder that sizeable populations of distraught conventional journalists have been reconsidering their individual decisions to remain loyal to “old media.” In many instances, these downtrodden but determined print journalists realize their Web 2.0 dreams by launching and staffing blogs of their very own.
But let’s be honest: does a blog written by a “professional”, experienced print journalist necessarily represent a higher-quality online publication than an “amateur” blog? No way.
Given the immense number of blogs created by, written by and run by amateurs, it is important to note that each amateur blogger possesses the capacity and the tools to produce professional-quality content and to generate a product on par with mainstream, traditional media. When a blogger “plays his cards right”, amateurs blogs are able to—and certainly do—gain popularity with audiences and, eventually, credibility.
According to Lev Grossman and Anita Hamilton and Chris Mooney, two pivotal political scandals can be credited for forever changing the face of online journalism by attracting attention to the blog platform as a means for covering news. When Internet gossip-monger Matt Drudge kept a watchful eye on the Lewinsky scandal with his blog Drudge Report, he drew attention to the utilization of blogging tools as a new outlet for news coverage. He kept the world informed and up-to-date, keeping up with the rapid pace at which the scandal unfolded; later, the political blogging community took a cue from Drudge and broke a story about Trent Lott voicing a politically incorrect sentiment at a political function—a tale the mainstream media failed to cover at all. Grossman said, “Mainstream America wasn't listening, but Washington insiders and media honchos read blogs. Three days after the party, the story was on Meet the Press. Four days afterward, Lott made an official apology. After two weeks, Lott was out as Senate majority leader, and blogs had drawn their first blood.”
As time progressed, world-changing events transpired that allowed amateur bloggers to not only pick up story angles that the mainstream traditional media overlooked. Blogs crashed into households globally and many sharp-tongued and quick-witted bloggers themselves became forces to reckon with. The professionals in their newsrooms began shaking in their boots.
According to Jay Rosen, “we know [blogs are] journalism— sometimes. They’re even capable, at times, and perhaps only in special circumstances, of beating Big Journalism at its own game”. These “special circumstances” were certainly not forgettable moments in history: 9/11, the Tsunami in Indonesia, and Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans were some of the blogosphere’s most highly-trafficked and content-heavy periods. Chris Mooney commented on 9/11 saying, “As media fumbled in the aftermath of the attacks, and a never-ending stream of events, rumors and paranoias fueled an insatiable desire for news, commentary and basic cathartic expression, the blogosphere boomed like never before. CNET commentator Charles Cooper even wrote that blogging "came of age" after 9/11.” New York Times writer John Schwartz, discussed the devastation in Indonesia and said, “The tsunami story is the biggest humanitarian disaster ever in the lifetimes of most career journalists and the blogs were somehow right there with them.”
We’re not saying that blogging is taking the place of the mainstream media; rather, blogs have carved out their own space within the mass media world—and they’re here to stay. According to Tom Curley, there is “a huge shift in the ‘balance of power’ in our world, from the content providers to the content consumers.” To Jay Rosen this “means that professional journalism is no longer sovereign over territory it once easily controlled. Not sovereign doesn’t mean you go away. It means your influence isn’t singular anymore.”
The slow process of blog legitimization has led to the birth of “Professionally written blogs at MSNBC, Slate, the Washington Post, The Christian Science Monitor, the Seattle Times – almost anywhere Big Media produces online news. In addition, media have enticed bloggers to transition from amateur to professional. For example, Mickey Kaus…now writers for MSN’s Slate.”
While corporations have taken to blogging, amateur blogs are a league of their own. According to a study titled Newspapers and blogs: Closer than we think? that compared blogs and newspaper stories, “data showed that blogs included a higher number of total sources and a slightly wider range of sources.” Specific data showed that “blogs included an average number of nine sources per blog posting, compared to an average of just six for newspaper stories.” Additionally, “Just two percent of newspapers stories used a blog as a source. Not surprisingly, bloggers used other blogs as sources at almost the same frequency as they used mainstream press.” Bloggers accept other blogs as legitimate sources, while newspapers remain skeptical of the credibility of blogs. This is one place where the division between professional and amateur blogging is fairly obvious, but ultimately the separation between the two remains fairly nebulous. According to an article titled The Experts vs. the Amateurs: A Tug of War over the Future of Media, “…while amateur content may not always favorably compare to its carefully vetted and professionally produced cousin, both play key roles in public discourse.”
Aside from their ability to simply keep up with the mainstream media, blogs have the unique capability to explore facets of a story that big media simply can’t cover. As an expert in the above-cited article, Wharton professor Kevin Werbach said, “User-generated content will never match The New York Times for the overall quality of coverage of the Iraq war, for example, but reading Iraqi blogs, or political blogs about the war, provides some perspectives you won't get from any newspaper.”
The bottom line: amateur bloggers have the capability to create content as high-quality as journalists who make their living working for the mainstream media. Without a doubt, bloggers shined during the Trent Lott scandal, 9/11, the Tsunami Disaster or Hurricane Katrina—amateur bloggers were reporting at a pace and quality level that was on par with professionals. These examples have demonstrated that amateurs can generate opinions and reports comparable to those of professionals. Amateur bloggers are more than “just amateurs.”
But let’s be honest: does a blog written by a “professional”, experienced print journalist necessarily represent a higher-quality online publication than an “amateur” blog? No way.
Given the immense number of blogs created by, written by and run by amateurs, it is important to note that each amateur blogger possesses the capacity and the tools to produce professional-quality content and to generate a product on par with mainstream, traditional media. When a blogger “plays his cards right”, amateurs blogs are able to—and certainly do—gain popularity with audiences and, eventually, credibility.
According to Lev Grossman and Anita Hamilton and Chris Mooney, two pivotal political scandals can be credited for forever changing the face of online journalism by attracting attention to the blog platform as a means for covering news. When Internet gossip-monger Matt Drudge kept a watchful eye on the Lewinsky scandal with his blog Drudge Report, he drew attention to the utilization of blogging tools as a new outlet for news coverage. He kept the world informed and up-to-date, keeping up with the rapid pace at which the scandal unfolded; later, the political blogging community took a cue from Drudge and broke a story about Trent Lott voicing a politically incorrect sentiment at a political function—a tale the mainstream media failed to cover at all. Grossman said, “Mainstream America wasn't listening, but Washington insiders and media honchos read blogs. Three days after the party, the story was on Meet the Press. Four days afterward, Lott made an official apology. After two weeks, Lott was out as Senate majority leader, and blogs had drawn their first blood.”
As time progressed, world-changing events transpired that allowed amateur bloggers to not only pick up story angles that the mainstream traditional media overlooked. Blogs crashed into households globally and many sharp-tongued and quick-witted bloggers themselves became forces to reckon with. The professionals in their newsrooms began shaking in their boots.
According to Jay Rosen, “we know [blogs are] journalism— sometimes. They’re even capable, at times, and perhaps only in special circumstances, of beating Big Journalism at its own game”. These “special circumstances” were certainly not forgettable moments in history: 9/11, the Tsunami in Indonesia, and Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans were some of the blogosphere’s most highly-trafficked and content-heavy periods. Chris Mooney commented on 9/11 saying, “As media fumbled in the aftermath of the attacks, and a never-ending stream of events, rumors and paranoias fueled an insatiable desire for news, commentary and basic cathartic expression, the blogosphere boomed like never before. CNET commentator Charles Cooper even wrote that blogging "came of age" after 9/11.” New York Times writer John Schwartz, discussed the devastation in Indonesia and said, “The tsunami story is the biggest humanitarian disaster ever in the lifetimes of most career journalists and the blogs were somehow right there with them.”
We’re not saying that blogging is taking the place of the mainstream media; rather, blogs have carved out their own space within the mass media world—and they’re here to stay. According to Tom Curley, there is “a huge shift in the ‘balance of power’ in our world, from the content providers to the content consumers.” To Jay Rosen this “means that professional journalism is no longer sovereign over territory it once easily controlled. Not sovereign doesn’t mean you go away. It means your influence isn’t singular anymore.”
The slow process of blog legitimization has led to the birth of “Professionally written blogs at MSNBC, Slate, the Washington Post, The Christian Science Monitor, the Seattle Times – almost anywhere Big Media produces online news. In addition, media have enticed bloggers to transition from amateur to professional. For example, Mickey Kaus…now writers for MSN’s Slate.”
While corporations have taken to blogging, amateur blogs are a league of their own. According to a study titled Newspapers and blogs: Closer than we think? that compared blogs and newspaper stories, “data showed that blogs included a higher number of total sources and a slightly wider range of sources.” Specific data showed that “blogs included an average number of nine sources per blog posting, compared to an average of just six for newspaper stories.” Additionally, “Just two percent of newspapers stories used a blog as a source. Not surprisingly, bloggers used other blogs as sources at almost the same frequency as they used mainstream press.” Bloggers accept other blogs as legitimate sources, while newspapers remain skeptical of the credibility of blogs. This is one place where the division between professional and amateur blogging is fairly obvious, but ultimately the separation between the two remains fairly nebulous. According to an article titled The Experts vs. the Amateurs: A Tug of War over the Future of Media, “…while amateur content may not always favorably compare to its carefully vetted and professionally produced cousin, both play key roles in public discourse.”
Aside from their ability to simply keep up with the mainstream media, blogs have the unique capability to explore facets of a story that big media simply can’t cover. As an expert in the above-cited article, Wharton professor Kevin Werbach said, “User-generated content will never match The New York Times for the overall quality of coverage of the Iraq war, for example, but reading Iraqi blogs, or political blogs about the war, provides some perspectives you won't get from any newspaper.”
The bottom line: amateur bloggers have the capability to create content as high-quality as journalists who make their living working for the mainstream media. Without a doubt, bloggers shined during the Trent Lott scandal, 9/11, the Tsunami Disaster or Hurricane Katrina—amateur bloggers were reporting at a pace and quality level that was on par with professionals. These examples have demonstrated that amateurs can generate opinions and reports comparable to those of professionals. Amateur bloggers are more than “just amateurs.”
Monday, May 12, 2008
Matt Drudge Interview
Interesting interview with Matt Drudge, creator of Drudge Report, an example of amateur journalist blogging
Amateurs are Just Amateurs
Amateur bloggers on the same level as professional journalists? No way.
Does Joe Blog, sitting in his dorm room or bedroom in Anytown, USA and blogging about current affairs truly hold him or herself to the same standards or put as much effort into reporting as a paid, professional journalist? Doubtful.
What sets the two apart is a lack of credible resources, training, expertise, access, and motivation that mainstream news reporters are known for. Without these—tenets that provide the foundation for journalism—amateur bloggers’ work simply can’t be considered “professional.”
First of all, let’s state the obvious: amateur bloggers lack the journalistic training, experience and expertise that professional journalists possess. Journalists are chosen to cover particular topics because they are experts in the fields they report on—and they certainly don’t land that gig without a degree, a series of internships and a few grueling years of smalltime reporting. Lowrey points out that most bloggers, on the other hand, do not have the same depth and breadth of experience—most of them are new to the field of journalism and have the freedom to report on any topics that interest them, even though they may potentially be lacking the expertise and ability to provide insight to a mass audience.
Additionally, amateur bloggers cannot possibly have the same level of access to sources that employed mainstream journalists do—plus, those who could divulge the most in-depth and credible information on a story (government officials, for instance) would likely prefer to grant interviews to established news organizations that have the capacity to reach wide audiences (or may be syndicated) and have an established reputation and loyal readership.
Further, one of the most admired and respected responsibilities of any professional journalist to present credible, unbiased, fact-based reports. To cover all angles of a story, Blood explains how they collect information by speaking directly to witnesses, researching the subjects they report on, and sending their work through several rounds of editing and fact-checking before releasing a story to the public.
Lowrey identifies the focus for bloggers as being rooted in “immediacy and opinion at the expense of accuracy”. Bloggers are so determined to break the story first--to get their information out there before the rest of the blogosphere—that such a motivation can allow gossip and speculation to take the place of thoroughly-reviewed fact. Amateur bloggers rarely have the means to speak directly to witnesses and experts, a characteristic that Blood identifies as one that is imperative for credible journalists. Plus, the fact that bloggers tend to report on topics they are of particular interest to them tends to lead to biased opinions. In his article, Andrews states that a journalist’s job is to report news—not push their own agendas. Bloggers, then, are certainly not journalists.
Time writers Grossman and Hamilton cite an example of such bias and lack of fact-finding in their article Meet Joe Blog. In the midst of the 2003 presidential primaries, a story surfaced on Drudge Report claiming that Senator John Kerry had an affair with one of his interns, Alexandra Polier. The blogosphere exploded with the story, it got picked up by the tabloids and was mentioned on several cable news shows. The only problem? It was totally untrue. Based on an anonymous tip, Matt Drudge had written and released a story to the public on his blog that turned into a small-scale media frenzy. An innocent woman was thrust into the spotlight and humiliated and John Kerry’s campaign suffered significant setbacks—all because of an amateur blogger’s hunger for the spotlight and desire to break a controversial story without checking the facts first.
Unlike amateur bloggers like Drudge, professional journalists would have been held accountable for such a colossal mistake. Consider the consequences for Matt Drudge after the smoke had cleared from the story: a bit of criticism from other bloggers. Otherwise? Nothing—just more traffic to his blog. Amateur journalist bloggers are simply not held accountable for their work—thus, they have the freedom to post whatever they want, whenever they want (within the limits of the legal system). As they are their own “editors”, Grossman points out that the worst that can happen as a consequence is other bloggers posting scathing or unpleasant comments. Because they do not necessarily have to worry about any monetary or career setbacks, the lack of accountability results in a decreased incentive for the, “grittier, less glamorous aspects of news work, such as tracking down sources and attending local government meetings.”
The most convincing reason that amateur bloggers cannot be considered professional? They rely on the mainstream media journalists both to provide them with information they include in their blogs and to pick up and provide a distribution channel to propel their work outside of the “blogosphere”. The source of information for most bloggers is the original reporting of professional journalists—without them, bloggers would simply not have the facts to develop and write their own stories – tasks that are at the “heart of all journalism” (Grossman). In his article, Andrews concludes that without the work of professionals, “…one wonders if even news-conscious blogs would contain any real information”. Additionally, if the media doesn’t broadcast the stories bloggers avidly discuss, they would remain secluded to the blogosphere, never reaching the large majority of Americans who do not read or write blogs.
So, we tend to agree with Paul Andrews when he says that calling a typical amateur journalist blogger a professional is like calling anyone who takes a picture a photographer. Though amateur bloggers and professional journalists tend to depend on each other for their respective successes, there is much more to being a professional journalist than just having an opinion, a laptop, and some time to spare.
Does Joe Blog, sitting in his dorm room or bedroom in Anytown, USA and blogging about current affairs truly hold him or herself to the same standards or put as much effort into reporting as a paid, professional journalist? Doubtful.
What sets the two apart is a lack of credible resources, training, expertise, access, and motivation that mainstream news reporters are known for. Without these—tenets that provide the foundation for journalism—amateur bloggers’ work simply can’t be considered “professional.”
First of all, let’s state the obvious: amateur bloggers lack the journalistic training, experience and expertise that professional journalists possess. Journalists are chosen to cover particular topics because they are experts in the fields they report on—and they certainly don’t land that gig without a degree, a series of internships and a few grueling years of smalltime reporting. Lowrey points out that most bloggers, on the other hand, do not have the same depth and breadth of experience—most of them are new to the field of journalism and have the freedom to report on any topics that interest them, even though they may potentially be lacking the expertise and ability to provide insight to a mass audience.
Additionally, amateur bloggers cannot possibly have the same level of access to sources that employed mainstream journalists do—plus, those who could divulge the most in-depth and credible information on a story (government officials, for instance) would likely prefer to grant interviews to established news organizations that have the capacity to reach wide audiences (or may be syndicated) and have an established reputation and loyal readership.
Further, one of the most admired and respected responsibilities of any professional journalist to present credible, unbiased, fact-based reports. To cover all angles of a story, Blood explains how they collect information by speaking directly to witnesses, researching the subjects they report on, and sending their work through several rounds of editing and fact-checking before releasing a story to the public.
Lowrey identifies the focus for bloggers as being rooted in “immediacy and opinion at the expense of accuracy”. Bloggers are so determined to break the story first--to get their information out there before the rest of the blogosphere—that such a motivation can allow gossip and speculation to take the place of thoroughly-reviewed fact. Amateur bloggers rarely have the means to speak directly to witnesses and experts, a characteristic that Blood identifies as one that is imperative for credible journalists. Plus, the fact that bloggers tend to report on topics they are of particular interest to them tends to lead to biased opinions. In his article, Andrews states that a journalist’s job is to report news—not push their own agendas. Bloggers, then, are certainly not journalists.
Time writers Grossman and Hamilton cite an example of such bias and lack of fact-finding in their article Meet Joe Blog. In the midst of the 2003 presidential primaries, a story surfaced on Drudge Report claiming that Senator John Kerry had an affair with one of his interns, Alexandra Polier. The blogosphere exploded with the story, it got picked up by the tabloids and was mentioned on several cable news shows. The only problem? It was totally untrue. Based on an anonymous tip, Matt Drudge had written and released a story to the public on his blog that turned into a small-scale media frenzy. An innocent woman was thrust into the spotlight and humiliated and John Kerry’s campaign suffered significant setbacks—all because of an amateur blogger’s hunger for the spotlight and desire to break a controversial story without checking the facts first.
Unlike amateur bloggers like Drudge, professional journalists would have been held accountable for such a colossal mistake. Consider the consequences for Matt Drudge after the smoke had cleared from the story: a bit of criticism from other bloggers. Otherwise? Nothing—just more traffic to his blog. Amateur journalist bloggers are simply not held accountable for their work—thus, they have the freedom to post whatever they want, whenever they want (within the limits of the legal system). As they are their own “editors”, Grossman points out that the worst that can happen as a consequence is other bloggers posting scathing or unpleasant comments. Because they do not necessarily have to worry about any monetary or career setbacks, the lack of accountability results in a decreased incentive for the, “grittier, less glamorous aspects of news work, such as tracking down sources and attending local government meetings.”
The most convincing reason that amateur bloggers cannot be considered professional? They rely on the mainstream media journalists both to provide them with information they include in their blogs and to pick up and provide a distribution channel to propel their work outside of the “blogosphere”. The source of information for most bloggers is the original reporting of professional journalists—without them, bloggers would simply not have the facts to develop and write their own stories – tasks that are at the “heart of all journalism” (Grossman). In his article, Andrews concludes that without the work of professionals, “…one wonders if even news-conscious blogs would contain any real information”. Additionally, if the media doesn’t broadcast the stories bloggers avidly discuss, they would remain secluded to the blogosphere, never reaching the large majority of Americans who do not read or write blogs.
So, we tend to agree with Paul Andrews when he says that calling a typical amateur journalist blogger a professional is like calling anyone who takes a picture a photographer. Though amateur bloggers and professional journalists tend to depend on each other for their respective successes, there is much more to being a professional journalist than just having an opinion, a laptop, and some time to spare.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
"Honest To Blog!" — Intro to Amateur Blog Production
That blogs have become so much a part of our cultural vernacular that they’re now routinely referenced everywhere from The New York Times to Academy Award-nominated comedy Juno is evidence of the enormous impact they’ve made on the cultural landscape in the last four years.
Publishing was once an exclusive niche sitting high and mighty in the rarefied dominion of the business elite. To see work translated into print on a published page, one needed to curry favor with one of a few powerful magnates with the financial and capital resources to fire up the presses at will. Now, in this golden age of information of which we are all a part, all you need to achieve the title of “published author” is a keyboard and some bandwidth — Hearst is probably rolling in his grave.
While the most obvious impact of the advent of blogging can be seen in online diaries like LiveJournal and Xanga, through which millions of (mostly teenaged) bloggers have found an outlet and a means for personal expression, its impact can be seen perhaps most clearly in the realm of news reportage.
The rise to prominence of the “blogosphere,” some would say, has brought about radical changes in the way the public perceives journalism. On the internet, one will inevitably find both, and the distinction between the two is not always an easy one to make.
To simply make the claim that the difference between amateur journalism and the professional variety is dictated solely by the absence or presence of monetary gain — that is, whether or not the individual in question is receiving monetary compensation for his or her efforts — boils the equation down to an overy-simplistic notion that style and content of reporting is dictated solely by profit margins, and overlooks fact that many established bloggers now making a steady living off of their online efforts were once indistinguishable from amateurs working off of platforms like Blogger. There are structural differences inherent to the classifications of amateur and professional journalists — differences that might seem obvious when approaching the matter from a holistic viewpoint, but when attempting to dissect the issue in a more analytical context are more nebulous and difficult to identify.
Could the difference be defined simply in terms of traditional reporting versus blogging? While this convenient heuristic might have been applicable five years ago, when the vast waters of blogdom were largely uncharted by the media powers-that-be, in today's world, major news sources use blogs as a way to supplement their more straightforward journalistic efforts, to add a face to their company, to appeal to a different demographic of Internet users than would normally visit The Wall Street Journal or CNN websites. Bloggers under the editorial jurisdiction of traditional news outlets cannot rightly be considered amateurs, not only because they are paid professionals, but also because they operate under the codes, practices and institutions of corporate entities who can dictate the direction of their writing.
The difference between amateurs and professionals, then, should be attributed to fundamental differences in journalistic philosophy that result in largely divergent styles of coverage. In an article titled "Mapping the Journalism-Blogging Relationship," Wilson Lowry, from the University of Alabama, explains some of the ways in which blogging has capitalized on perceived weakness in the traditional media's coverage of the news. "Difficulties posed by external and internal factors have led journalism to neglect some types of news information, which in turn have been poached by bloggers. These include partisan expression, ‘old stories’, stories driven by non-elite sources, and highly specialized content."
Clearly, there isn't a binary state of "professional" or "amateur," but rather a spectrum ranging from the personal diaries on LiveJournal to more traditional news sources like The New York Times and FoxNews, to name a few. In between is where the territory gets murky, and where it becomes more difficult to differentiate between the two categories. Political blogs like the Daily-Kos and the Drudge Report, began as amateur projects, though they might still embrace the journalistic philosophies espoused at their founding, now generate revenue and have large staffs who maintain the website.
While these "professional amateurs" can't be considered true amateurs, it's interesting to observe how their style of journalism differs from that of the "real professionals." Their role in public discourse provides a foil to the news-cycle-dominated professional realm. Trent Lott, New Orleans and Dan Rather all received attention in the blogosphere inordinate to what they would have seen in traditional media. Even when it was more established, professional bloggers covering these stories, the contrast to the coverage doled out by broadcast and print journalism was striking. Obviously the blogosphere, a hotspot for amateur media production, still provides a platform far different from that available through traditional media — even when those doing the blogging are compensated for their efforts.
At this moment in history, when YouTube and Wikipedia are making headlines for their emphasis on user-generated content, a line has been drawn in the sand between amateur and professional media production, and a debate has sparked over the merits of each — a debate that has extended into the realm of journalism.
There are those who argue that, while amateur journalists posting on blogs might lack the vast resources available to the big names in print and broadcast journalism, it is still capable of producing just as high a quality of reporting, and of delivering stories that even the best reporter at The Washington Post might not be able to. The flip-side of that argument, there are those who point to the institutions developed around professional journalism (and the lack of these institutions in amateur journalism) as they reason why amateur journalism is not equal to or greater than the established variety.
A closer look at both sides of the argument is merited.
Publishing was once an exclusive niche sitting high and mighty in the rarefied dominion of the business elite. To see work translated into print on a published page, one needed to curry favor with one of a few powerful magnates with the financial and capital resources to fire up the presses at will. Now, in this golden age of information of which we are all a part, all you need to achieve the title of “published author” is a keyboard and some bandwidth — Hearst is probably rolling in his grave.
While the most obvious impact of the advent of blogging can be seen in online diaries like LiveJournal and Xanga, through which millions of (mostly teenaged) bloggers have found an outlet and a means for personal expression, its impact can be seen perhaps most clearly in the realm of news reportage.
The rise to prominence of the “blogosphere,” some would say, has brought about radical changes in the way the public perceives journalism. On the internet, one will inevitably find both, and the distinction between the two is not always an easy one to make.
To simply make the claim that the difference between amateur journalism and the professional variety is dictated solely by the absence or presence of monetary gain — that is, whether or not the individual in question is receiving monetary compensation for his or her efforts — boils the equation down to an overy-simplistic notion that style and content of reporting is dictated solely by profit margins, and overlooks fact that many established bloggers now making a steady living off of their online efforts were once indistinguishable from amateurs working off of platforms like Blogger. There are structural differences inherent to the classifications of amateur and professional journalists — differences that might seem obvious when approaching the matter from a holistic viewpoint, but when attempting to dissect the issue in a more analytical context are more nebulous and difficult to identify.
Could the difference be defined simply in terms of traditional reporting versus blogging? While this convenient heuristic might have been applicable five years ago, when the vast waters of blogdom were largely uncharted by the media powers-that-be, in today's world, major news sources use blogs as a way to supplement their more straightforward journalistic efforts, to add a face to their company, to appeal to a different demographic of Internet users than would normally visit The Wall Street Journal or CNN websites. Bloggers under the editorial jurisdiction of traditional news outlets cannot rightly be considered amateurs, not only because they are paid professionals, but also because they operate under the codes, practices and institutions of corporate entities who can dictate the direction of their writing.
The difference between amateurs and professionals, then, should be attributed to fundamental differences in journalistic philosophy that result in largely divergent styles of coverage. In an article titled "Mapping the Journalism-Blogging Relationship," Wilson Lowry, from the University of Alabama, explains some of the ways in which blogging has capitalized on perceived weakness in the traditional media's coverage of the news. "Difficulties posed by external and internal factors have led journalism to neglect some types of news information, which in turn have been poached by bloggers. These include partisan expression, ‘old stories’, stories driven by non-elite sources, and highly specialized content."
Clearly, there isn't a binary state of "professional" or "amateur," but rather a spectrum ranging from the personal diaries on LiveJournal to more traditional news sources like The New York Times and FoxNews, to name a few. In between is where the territory gets murky, and where it becomes more difficult to differentiate between the two categories. Political blogs like the Daily-Kos and the Drudge Report, began as amateur projects, though they might still embrace the journalistic philosophies espoused at their founding, now generate revenue and have large staffs who maintain the website.
While these "professional amateurs" can't be considered true amateurs, it's interesting to observe how their style of journalism differs from that of the "real professionals." Their role in public discourse provides a foil to the news-cycle-dominated professional realm. Trent Lott, New Orleans and Dan Rather all received attention in the blogosphere inordinate to what they would have seen in traditional media. Even when it was more established, professional bloggers covering these stories, the contrast to the coverage doled out by broadcast and print journalism was striking. Obviously the blogosphere, a hotspot for amateur media production, still provides a platform far different from that available through traditional media — even when those doing the blogging are compensated for their efforts.
At this moment in history, when YouTube and Wikipedia are making headlines for their emphasis on user-generated content, a line has been drawn in the sand between amateur and professional media production, and a debate has sparked over the merits of each — a debate that has extended into the realm of journalism.
There are those who argue that, while amateur journalists posting on blogs might lack the vast resources available to the big names in print and broadcast journalism, it is still capable of producing just as high a quality of reporting, and of delivering stories that even the best reporter at The Washington Post might not be able to. The flip-side of that argument, there are those who point to the institutions developed around professional journalism (and the lack of these institutions in amateur journalism) as they reason why amateur journalism is not equal to or greater than the established variety.
A closer look at both sides of the argument is merited.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
AMP 320 Resources
Works Cited
These resources were helpful in assessing the similarities and differences between amateur blog production and professional, traditional journalistic production.
"The Experts vs. The Amateurs: A Tug of War Over the Future of New Media", Knowledge @ Wharton (2008).
Paul Andrews, "Is blogging journalism?", Nieman Reports (2003).
Rebecca Blood, "Weblogs and journalism: Do they connect?", Nieman Reports (2003).
Tom Curley, “Text of opening keynote by Tom Curley”, The Online News Association (2004).
Lev Grossman, & Anita Hamilton, "Meet joe blog", Time (2004).
Wilson Lowrey, "Mapping the journalism-blogging relationship", Journalism (2006).
Chris Mooney, "Forum: How Blogging Changed Journalism - Almost", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (2002).
Jay Rosen, "Bloggers vs. Journalists is Over", Press Think (2005).
John Schwartz, “ASIA'S DEADLY WAVES: THE INTERNET; Blogs Provide Raw Details From Scene of the Disaster”, The New York Times (2004).
David Vaina, “Newspapers and blogs: Closer than we think?”, AUSC Annenberg Online Journalism Review (2007).
Blogs of Interest:
Daily Kos - A prominent liberal blog
The Drudge Report - Another popular political blog
Urban Conservative - A popular conservative blog
The Survival of New Orleans Weblog - A blog charting news about New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina
Traditional ("Professional") News Websites:
Popular Blogging Platforms:
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