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.