Is a Blogger a Journalist?
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This is interesting: Are Bloggers Journalists?. At least one judge in the US says no. He ordered a few sites that Apple is suing to disclose their sources since they aren't under the first amendment protections that the press typically enjoy here.
At the same time, it seems that more people use the Internet for their news/. Of course that doesn't mean that bloggers are providing news, and I think I'd agree with that. Not because they're not online, or that the things they write don't qualify, or even that they're not getting paid. But that because many bloggers are writing their opinions on something they heard or noticed, or something else.
For example, Sun's Jonathan Schwartz has a great blog, but one that I'd classify as a great marketing weapon. He's a smart guy, got some great ideas, but it seems that lots of what he writes is written with a pro-Sun and we are great, bias. I'm sure he believes it, but I'd be hard pressed to think that the marketing folks don't help him with it, or at least give him some pointers on how to phrase things.
There are more that I read, Joel Spolsky is one I get to often, but he makes no bones about the places where he's being biased toward his product. However I wouldn't classify it as "news". Of those that I read regularly, Lawrence Lessig probably comes closest to news, but even then he's building thoughts based on a linkage of things he's heard about or read, or seen. Not all of which necessarily follows the 2 sources rule that most journalists abide by.
To me a blog is more of an editorial page or a stream of consciousness (like mine), not a well thought out and edited, unbiased, or at least supposedly unbiased, piece of journalism. Of course with so many people looking for hits, readers, or eyeballs of any kind, I'm getting less sure everyday of where to draw the line.
Steve Jones
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At least it is commonly understood that Bloggers are biased. Journalism has taken a sharp turn toward sensationalism and bias is quite prevalent. I live in Northeast Tennessee and there is a definite slant toward conservative politics in the newspapers here. I, personally, am opposed to the party system anyway but we should at least get both sides of the story but often don't. One way that journalists pretend to present both sides to a story is by placing the opposing viewpoint at the end of an article. Not only to many people stop reading a particular article before the end but editors commonly start removing sections at the end if an article is too long for the space provided.
As far as Bloggers being Journalists, we have an opinion page in the newspaper don't we? I don't know the details of the Apple suit but I tend to lean toward the little guy rather than the big corporation.
[font="Tahoma"]Bryant E. Byrd, BSSE MCDBA MCAD[/font]
Business Intelligence Administrator
MSBI Administration Blog -
You know, the last time I checked there was no "journalism" clause in the constitution; the 1st Ammendment is supposed to protect us all.
Per Wikipedia, a journalist is "a person who practices journalism". Dictionary.com said the same thing, and both also added that this also refers to "One who keeps a journal".
Bloggers definitely fit the 2nd category (and they're published!), and it's definitely arguable that they could fit the 1st; at least as well as well as a small town news studio in Tennessee (no offense, Tatsu).
Corporations and our government have us trained so well that most people don't even question this crap. I mean, if you have to be corporate approved to practice free speech without fear of reprisal, what the heck does that mean for (free?) American citizens! Halliburtonland, here we come.
Signature is NULL
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Cool, thanks for the extra research. Now I am a published journalist (http://oledu.blogspot.com). I wonder if I can add some more initials after my name?!
Seriously though, I guess it just comes down to what the perceived offense is. If the blogger was publishing material subject to copyright protection then he/she may still be in violation since even a newspaper can't do that and would probably have to tell where the material came from.
A quick (very quick) look into the case indicates that a few bloggers released "trade secret" information. My limited (very limited) knowledge of intellectual property law tells me that Apple is up the creek because once your trade secret is out you don't have any copyright or patent protection because you kept it secret. I am sure it's not as simple as that but I suspect that Apple is merely interested in shutting down its internal leaks which should have no bearing on the bloggers.
That's my not very educated option
[font="Tahoma"]Bryant E. Byrd, BSSE MCDBA MCAD[/font]
Business Intelligence Administrator
MSBI Administration Blog -
I'm not going to go into the first amendment thing, because its US Centric and so irrelevant for me. It is of course, highly relevant, for americans.
I agree that the appropriate question to ask is what is a journalist, or what is journalism. I can't agree that the second definition is really what we are talking about, schoolgirls keeping diaries about who they have a crush on that week also fit the definition. (and are probably published bloggers too
) The key aspect of journalism it seems to me is this from the wikipedia definition
Journalism is a discipline of collecting, verifying, reporting and analyzing information gathered regarding current events, including trends, issues and people.
it seems to me that nearly all blogs don't measure up to the verifying criterion, which is usually characterised by reliance on multiple sources, careful editing and proof-reading.
As far as bias goes ISTM that journalism is and will always be biased, part of its role is to explain the world to us, you just cannot do that dispassionately. Facts require interpretation. So the fact that newspapers are biased shouldn't be a surprise (and this is not a new thing), where the bias springs from factual reporting that is journalism, where it is unfounded (or rather unevidenced) opinion then that is editorializing.
Most, but not all bloggers, ISTM fall in the editorializing camp.
Niall Litchfield
Senior DBA
http://www.niall.litchfield.dial.pipex.com -
IMO......(as a point of order on some words used above, but not on the subjective matter under discussion)
Facts do not need interpreting, opinions can be.
"1+1=2" is a fact and has no need to be interpreted. It means only 1 thing. Facts may however need to be explained and understood if stated unclearly.
"XYZ person is good looking" is an opinion....and however is open to interpretation....good is subjective.
Interpretation as presented here seems to suggest that there can be MORE than 1 endpoint with the statement, which with most opinions is true, but with a fact is not.
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The western coalition invaded Iraq is a fact, it does rather require interpretation!
edit - add better eg.
It is also a fact that rebuilding indexes can aid performance. It isn't a fact that can stand on its own.
technically I believe 1 + 1 = 2 is an assertion (it is that way by definition), but I know what you mean.
Niall Litchfield
Senior DBA
http://www.niall.litchfield.dial.pipex.com
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