The blogosphere is a curios phenomenon that is a relatively new concept for me. Before today I have maybe read 10 blogs in my lifetime and this seems to shock some people when they hear this. When I told a friend this they responded by saying. “[W]hat, have you been living under a rock or something?” This comment made me laugh since I believe that it’s because I haven’t been living under a rock that I never got involved too much with blogs or things of that nature. Now that I have a blog, I feel like I have a voice. There are a lot of people out there who are completely opposed to the blogosphere. Why? It’s a great way to make your opinion heard, what’s wrong with that? If you don’t like it, don’t read it! When this is looked at in greater detail we may come to the conclusion that the blog haters have barely any idea what they are raging against. Don’t get me wrong, I know there is a lot of garbage to sift through on the internet, but that could be said for all forms of journalism, not just blogging. And just the fact that I have associated blogging with journalism just now may piss some people off since many would say that blogging is not journalism.
Whether blogging is journalism or not is hard for me to say simply because I do not know. I could make an argument for both sides, although I would have to say that I think blogging has the potential to be the best form of journalism. One thing I am sure of is that the Blogging vs. journalism debate will go on for a long time.
When we look at the journalism that bloggers do we see that serious bloggers aren’t really all that different from traditional journalists. It could be argued that Blogging is the “fresh water” for journalism since it brings back the idea of the investigative journalist. An idea that has been lost over the years due to mounting political pressures put on news outlets to simply repeat information given to them.
One of the highest ideals that journalism holds is objectivity, but with blogging, opinion is at the focal point for most people. Some would call this a problem in the world of journalism since blogging has taken a very different stance on the way it gives us information. But maybe it is time to get rid of objectivity for a while and get back to some good ol’ common sense thinking instead of mindlessly providing information. This is definitely the strength of the blog and that’s why it gets so much attention.
"I know there is a lot of garbage to sift through on the internet, but that could be said for all forms of journalism.."
ReplyDeleteI just love how you worded that.
I defintely agree with your argument and enjoyed this thoroughly. I think that there are so many journalists that don't use their voice for good, or with deep thought/consideration. Blogging is great to see a variety of original takes on issues, and I've recently realised that I can find journalists who make more sense on a blog than those who represent the big corporations we call "news providers".
I agree with what is above, the trouble is filtering which blog is the one we wish to read.
ReplyDelete