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This question about blogging just keeps coming up. I’ve encountered it at least three times in the last month. I guess that’s a good sign that the topic should be addressed.
A lot of people seem to get blogging wrong. Companies get it wrong when they use their blog to simply publish their press releases. Individuals and companies both get it wrong when they turn off comments or otherwise fail to engage the reader.
Way back when I started this blog I addressed the question of What is a Blog? I posted a stack of definitions for blogging at the time, and most of them are still valid. The one I like the best, however, is that blogging should be thought of as a conversation.
The conversational nature of blogging is what sets it apart from journalism (or just about any other type writing, for that matter). When compared with a traditional news article (and most other types of nonfiction writing), a blog post is subjective and usually represents the author’s personal opinion and/or experiences.
In contrast, news articles should strive to objective. News articles are also based on investigative reporting rather than personal experience.
While a blog may present a reaction to news, the majority of blogs do not publish news. (I say majority because 1)I haven’t read every blog that’s out there 2)there is a very small handful of blogs that do engage in investigative journalism.) Even most news blogs are simply publishing a reaction to the news.
Of course, the subjective nature of blogs doesn’t mean that people don’t or can’t learn from blogs. If you are reading a credible blog from an experienced individual, you are likely to learn quite a bit. However, it’s still important to remember that blogging is subjective and even the best blog is only as good as its author.
So, my answer to the question of whether or not blogging is journalism is this: not usually.
What’s your opinion about blogging and journalism? Do you think there’s a difference? Why, or why not?
17 responses so far ↓
1 Jenn Mattern // May 24, 2010 at
I actually posted about this with some of my thoughts and an interview with Darren Rowse back in ’08. Here’s that post if anyone’s curious (covers whether bloggers should be treated as journalists, whether they really want to be, and whether or not they’re a threat to “traditional” journalists).
http://nakedpr.com/2008/05/01/bloggers-vs-journalists-with-pro-blogger-darren-rowse/
To this day, I still stand by my thoughts in that post, most importantly:
“…bloggers can essentially be treated as journalists if they adhere to the same standards.”
2 Laura Spencer // May 24, 2010 at
Thanks Jenn!
I’ll check out that link.
“…bloggers can essentially be treated as journalists if they adhere to the same standards.”
There probably is some crossover between blogging and journalism IF some bloggers are adhering to the same standards.
However, other bloggers are likely to be content to stay subjective and not be considered as journalists.
3 Laura Spencer // May 24, 2010 at
Good post! I liked it–even though it was largely targeted towards how PRs should treat bloggers (which is not something I’m discussing here).
I was especially impressed that you pulled in Darren’s comments.
It’s well worth a read.
4 Twitter Trackbacks for Is Blogging Journalism? : WritingThoughts [writingthoughts.com] on Topsy.com // May 24, 2010 at
[…] Is Blogging Journalism? : WritingThoughts https://www.writingthoughts.com/?p=772 – view page – cached Freelance writing – what you need to know about good writing and more. Tweets about this link Topsy.Data.Twitter.User[‘txwriter’] = {“photo”:”http://a1.twimg.com/profile_images/581296732/Laura_004_normal.jpg”,”url”:”http://twitter.com/txwriter”,”nick”:”txwriter”}; txwriter: “RT @TXWriter Is Blogging Journalism? http://bit.ly/bbWaot #freelance #writing ” 5 minutes ago view tweet retweet Topsy.Data.Twitter.User[‘txwriter’] = {“photo”:”http://a1.twimg.com/profile_images/581296732/Laura_004_normal.jpg”,”url”:”http://twitter.com/txwriter”,”nick”:”txwriter”}; txwriter: “RT @TXWriter Is Blogging Journalism? http://bit.ly/bbWaot ” 18 hours ago view tweet retweet Filter tweets […]
5 Jenn Mattern // May 24, 2010 at
Yep — it was a two-part series with Darren on whether or not companies should treat bloggers as journalists, and blogger relations in general. I don’t think it’s really any different than what you’re talking about here though — they both involve the motivation of the blogger (to share news vs opinions for example). That’s why I included the example of news leads being an example of what some bloggers expect as “perks,” in line with more traditional journalists. I’ve had bloggers work for me who were indeed putting out news and treated as traditional journalists (being sent early news for release by Mozilla in one example).
Then again, the blogger vs journalist issue isn’t just one of news value. Journalism after all isn’t solely about news. If you go through a few different definitions, you find it can mean a lot of things to a lot of people.
For instance, one definition from Merriam-Webster is “writing designed for publication in a newspaper or magazine.” That would include features, which can indeed have subjective elements. It also rules out any form of journalism on the Web. A definition included in the American Heritage Dictionary is “written material of current interest or wide popular appeal.” That’s a definition I find far less limiting than most. After all, what one person considers news another might not (think anything about Lindsay Lohan). Others limit what journalism is based on medium.
I think journalism as a field is much bigger than that — more about a differentiation between what’s going on in the world now as opposed to simply sharing evergreen content. And I think the differentiation comes down quite a bit to how companies and their PR reps choose to treat bloggers — as people who should stick to how-tos and personal stories versus those worth sharing timely information, review materials, and expert sources with. And there’s room for bloggers under that umbrella, even if not all of them choose to be. But that’s just me.
6 Laura Spencer // May 24, 2010 at
Thanks Jenn,
I guess I can see why some bloggers would want perks, such as being sent early releases. Personally, I’m usually not interested–but, then I mostly share evergreen content and opinions.
The few times someone has sent me an advance copy of something (almost always an e-book) it was because the person knew me. And, of course I disclose those instances.
While I definitely agree that the Merriam-Webster is inadequate (television and radio news would also be excluded under that definition), I’m not sure I would cast the journalistic umbrella quite so wide. There are many topics that are of interest to many, but aren’t actually news (think the self-help section in your local bookstore).
Personally, I would hate to see journalists losing their objectivity. In my opinion, that’s what gives (or doesn’t give) the news credibility. Of course, journalists can and do blog and produce other editorial content (just like anyone else)–but in my opinion it’s not the same thing.
7 Laura Spencer // May 24, 2010 at
Well, actually most of what I do is create training materials and technical documents–but, few people ever see those…
8 Lauren Nelson // May 28, 2010 at
Excellent post!I think there are a couple of things to think about in this conversation. My jumping off point is George Brock’s March 2010 inaugural lecture as head of the Journalism department at City University in London. It’s really outstanding, and you can read it here: http://tiny.cc/eyok3
One of the things he talks about in the context of journalism today is addressing the needs of readers. In the past, journalism was about presenting information. Today, readers want more than information- they want personalized analysis. They want to know why information matters to THEM.
Because of this need, and because of the changing nature of journalism in the context of the web, I think it is entirely possible that blogging can be journalism. With the conceptualization of journalism expanding every day, I feel like figuring out where blogging fits in the equation is more worthwhile than determining whether it should be that at all.
Responding to Jenn’s conclusion, I couldn’t agree more, but I think this verdict makes the compartmentalization of journalism all the more important. To determine whether a blog is adhering to the same standards, we have to know what those standards are for the particular genre of journalism in question.
9 Laura Spencer // May 28, 2010 at
Hi Lauren,
Thanks so much for your thoughtful response. Also, thanks for sharing the link to George Brock’s lecture. I scanned through it and bookmarked it for later reference.
I especially like his definition of journalism, “Journalism is the systematic effort to establish the truth of what matters to society.” This is much better than many traditional definitions that clearly no longer fit, although I’m not sure it’s exactly right either.
In fact, it seems that the definitions of both blogging and journalism are in flux.
I also found Brock’s four elements that are at the core of what journalists do to be interesting.
It seems to me that bloggers are sitting on the fence. Some are choosing to be journalists (although this is NOT the case with most of the blogs that I read). Many other bloggers are choosing to produce evergreen content and share personal experiences.
I’m thinking out loud here, but perhaps the best solution is not to look at blogging as writing genre or type, but rather a medium through which one chooses to do various types of writing.
10 Is There Such A Thing As Wrong Blogging? // Jun 7, 2010 at
[…] quote from the article, “Is Blogging Journalism?” at Writing Thoughts brings up an excellent question: “Is There […]
11 Ralph Fleming // Jun 8, 2010 at
In my opinion bloggin can be a great way for journalism if the bloggin activity is approached in a certain way. I believe that it is important to distinguish the personal blogs from those with business or journalistic purposes.
It all depends on the blogger and of course, on the content.
12 nd // Jun 10, 2010 at
Awesome comparison.
It’s the fourth estate’s job to inform the public. If they currently suck at it and we’re all learning a hell of a lot more from blogs, maybe the definition and rules of Journalism are changing. -nd
13 Laura Spencer // Jun 11, 2010 at
Thanks Ralph. I think a few bloggers are engaged in what I would call journalism, but most are not.
ND–That is exactly what I think. People no longer trust journalists to give them the facts. As we see in the comment provided by Lauren journalists are no longer even being taught to be objective. This leaves a trust gap that some blogs are able to fill.
14 Lou Wasser // Jul 1, 2010 at
The time-honored definition of journalism as the “first rough draft of history,” though at first blush pretentious, is a sound one. A blog can be useful, inspiring, brilliant, and even better written than much of what frequently passes for journalism.
But one does not derive from most blogs the immediacy or news value that gives journalism its heft.
Still, it’s easy to get bogged down with definitions, and to nitpick about categories until you’re blue in the face. After all, is a piece by Tom Friedman in The New York Times about Afghanistan more properly called an “op-ed column” a “blog” or an “essay?”
And as long as one has a good sense of the definitions, and ultimately knows what’s what, does the name for something really matter?
15 Laura Spencer // Jul 5, 2010 at
Thanks Lou!
I also believe that to be good journalism should be accurate and objective. I like the phrase “a first rough draft of history.”
As you say, blogs can be better written than many journalistic pieces–but often the “news” just isn’t there. I’m not against blogging by any means. In fact, I’m a frequent blogger myself.
Thanks for coming by.
16 Glen H. // Aug 20, 2010 at
One of the biggest differences, when it comes to most blogs, is the lack of primarily investigations. Blogs that I see tend to report on existing news stories, or develop stories that are already heard of. It’s still quite uncommon for most blogs to actually dig up new stories of their own – to find the news.
17 Laura Spencer // Aug 21, 2010 at
Hi Glen H.,
In my opinion, investigation is crucial to journalism.