Bloggers Should Be More Like The Middle Man

When the debate about the difference between journalists and bloggers occurs I find myself usually getting angry and a little offended. Maybe I'm being snobby, but I honestly think theres a big difference and there should be. And if others saw it the way I did maybe the two could co-exist pretty peacefully.

Journalism is a profession just like doctors, lawyers, accountants, and salespeople. Theres a reason I'm spending $30,000 a year on tuition and when someone tries to tell me my next door neighbor who never finished high school but could sign up for an online blogging site is essentially doing the same work as I am and their work is just as worthy, I get a little defensive. I understand that blogging is popular. If writers from the New York Times are blogging, it's got to be catching on.

I'm not saying that blogging is pointless or ineffective. I'm just saying maybe we need to make a place for bloggers that can be separate from journalists. Although the general public has information that publications often don't, I think theres still a need for professional journalists who know the consequences of their actions and are familiar with the steps journalists need to go through for the sake of the public.

I think that bloggers have an unmistakable job, one that they're already doing and one that I think is very important to the future of blogging and journalism. Most bloggers don't actually go out and do the reporting themselves. Instead they comment on stories that have already been broken, or state their own observations. Although Universal Hub links to other bloggers as well as publications, I believe they have the right idea.

Bloggers ought to bring readers to a place where they can get information from a variety of sources. They ought to present different locations of different articles that discuss similar subjects. If they have any personal information, they should share it, but people ought to know that these claims are not backed up by solid fact checking. Obviously the general public doesn't have access that journalists have. They might not understand all the ethical issues either. It's important to get information from bloggers but then journalists ought to double check these claims and put together a fuller more comprehensive piece on why and how something happened. Until then, let the discussion continue, but lets be more thoughtful about the process.