Blogs and journalism need each other

The real revolution here is this: In a world of micro-content delivered to niche audiences, more and more of the more trivial news that we encounter each and every day is being conveyed through personal media- chiefly weblogs. Call it participatory journalism or journalism from the edges, every single day people are committing random acts of journalism.

Quite simply, individuals are playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting and analyzing news and information- a task once reserved almost exclusively to the professional media. In order not to be left behind, the professional journalist needs to jump on this bandwagon.

Weblogs are the most popular expression of this new media form. Blogs have exploded in popularity in past years, fuelled by greater access to the internet and low-cost, often free software. More people than ever have taken up the tools of self-publishing to create personal journals on subjects as diverse as politics, celebrity news and tropical fish.

“Blogs are in some ways a new form of journalism, open to anyone who can establish and maintain a web site, and they have exploded in the past few years,” Walter Mossberg wrote in his Wall Street Journal technology column.

This description of a new kind of journalism might trouble conventional journalists, but it is a journalism of a different sort, one not tightly confined by the profession’s traditions and values, revealing the personality behind the reporter. This is journalism with a face. 

These old school journalists need to learn from the likes of Mario Armando Lavandeira, Jr, owner and writer of one of the most famous celebrity weblogs http://perezhilton.com/. His blog has garnered heaps of attention for its brash attitude, its active ‘outing’ of alleged closeted celebrities and its role in the increasing coverage of celebrities. 

What benefits do weblogs bring to journalism?

Weblogs are helping to increase the boundaries of experimental forms of journalism; we see sentiments that are first expressed on weblogs spring up in the mainstream media, possibly days or even weeks after they first surface in the blogosphere. 

Similarly, all too often the mainstream media tend to dispose of stories in a fast-paced news cycle, with even important news events falling off their radar screen after 48 hours.

Blogs keep stories alive by recirculating them and regurgitating them with new angles, insights and even newsworthy opinions. The media is growing to be more interactive as readers become part of the news process.  One journalist who blogs for both work and play commented,

“Blogging is just one of several skills you can develop as a journalist. A reporter who can blog is valuable, but so is a reporter who can edit. So is an editor who can create multimedia presentations. So is a Web content developer who can debug code.”

One thing that is for sure is the relationship between weblogs and traditional journalism will continue to be a turbulent one.