Journalism and Blogging

The debate has been going on since the late 90s on the differences between a blogger and a journalist. There is nothing wrong with either profession, at least in my opinion, but many individuals are very vocal about the roles and the characteristics that set both titles apart. I consider myself a blogger and DailyTechTalk is a blog. I have �blogged� for many websites and that means that I assume a blogger�s pay. In most settings, a bloggers pay is just enough to have extra money lying around but will require a second full time job unless you�re in school. I have seen bloggers do very well but it�s difficult and requires a lot of time and a few years of struggling to reach the point where you can quit your day job and blog.

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I have never been very fond of the term �blog� and it has never quite set well with me. When you�re telling someone what you do in your spare time, they look at you like you�re a member of some hobby involving comic books and Pong. On the other hand, it beats saying that you have an online diary / journal. Blogging has become more popular and is closer to becoming a household term. Websites like Myspace and media outlets like CNN have chosen to use the word in newscasts when relating to freelance media on the web. I have reviewed and listened in on a few debates about the differences between journalism and blogging and whether blogging is considered �media� as in, �its whatever the media says it is�. Can this term relate to a blogger?

There are only two websites on the Mac web that qualify as �media outlets�, Maccentral and The Unofficial Mac Weblog. Despite the name of the 2nd website, they are both owned by IDG and AOL respectively and are backed by corporate funding and partnerships. These websites have a huge staff of paid writers and administrative staff and each of them have new articles daily. There are other Mac websites that pay their staff, have daily posts and may contain great, well-written articles but very few of them are considered media. I feel classification for media is based on your parent company and their stature in the industry. IDG, Maccentral�s parent company owns many technical publications like PCworld, Macworld magazine and has a sister company named IDG World Expo. The World Expo division is the company that organizes Macworld, LinuxWorld and BioITWorld every year so when I read something on Maccentral, I am pretty confident that their words have gone through a few editors, a legal team and their current sponsors to make sure everyone is happy and then the item is published.

I trust websites owned by corporations because they have credibility. Or do they? There are those that disagree with me and state that because of the corporate backing and million dollar sponsors, these media outlets lack true journalism because of filters that are applied to every story that is written. Interesting point. These individuals go on to say that independent weblogs that may witness the event or use the product first hand offer a more honest non-biased report in their articles. This is also true, but is that opinion factual and was it well written enough to convey their opinions properly and further more, was this article written to satisfy a particular party or was it written from the heart. Every piece you read in a newspaper or hear on television was written by a person and despite their credibility as a journalist, they did place their own personal reflections into the piece because that is human nature. You also can�t write a story without offending at least one person that reads it. There will always be someone that disagrees with you and your point of view even if the point your making is based on a first hand account as that event unfolded.

I see the necessity for both ends of the spectrum. I appreciate the honesty, openness and absence of censorship blogs offer but blogs tend to not be as well written and lack cited sources. Blogs also container more personal viewpoints regarding factual information than a media written article would display. For that reason, I have to be selective with the blogs I subscribe, although I�m not easily offended I don�t want to be forced to send someone a nasty gram because they through in a personal note that was just stupid.

Returning qualified media, I think blogs can be media. I think you should be making money from that blog and have a paid staff. You should also post articles consistently and focus on one area like technology, home gardening or dog training. You should divide your website into sections featuring news and editorials so readers understand when they are about to be given a bit with your personal opinion thrown in. A final though on the subject may just be fabricated propaganda but I could see the larger corporations creating a viral campaign that forces people to think twice about considering an independent as media. This underground campaign against blogs has set bloggers back a few years into becoming recognized as a reputable media source.

The thin line between a blogger and a journalist should be on every single basis and you as the reader should decide if a person is considered one or the other. I would consider a website with a large readership and is cited by other sources in articles a media outlet. I disagree that all print and web media is considered media but it all comes down to your opinion. Blogs are the new media, well almost.

Just to clarify a few points -- there's really no MacCentral anymore, it's just part of Macworld.com. I wouldn't say we have a "huge staff" but compared to blogs, yeah, we do have a dozen people paid to do a magazine and web site.

Not to get into much detail about our process, but when you read something on our site it's usually gone through a writer, an editor, and sometimes a copy editor. Not through multiple editors, not through a "legal team" (although if something is sticky there is a lawyer we can call--which almost never happens), and CERTAINLY not through sponsors.

-jason @ Macworld

Thank you for your comment Jason. I was not targeting Macworld or Maccentral directly. I wanted to use that as an exmample because it really is the place for news that is considered "media' and not a blog. Your staff is not 5 teenagers ranting about the latest iPod's battery life and being that your parent company is IDG, I would consider Macworld Magazine and the web presence "media" as we define it.

Once again, thanks for giving this a read and I hope to see you at Macworld.