Blogging: the new journalism?

by Jody Raynsford

Published on July 2, 2004 By Sally jacobs In Blogging

Before i joined JU I was totally ignorant to blogging and just what it meant and what you actually did with it. Since coming to JU, in a short period I've learnt an awful lot about it. Through reading other peoples blogs, and seeing responses to mine, and if I'm honest it's got me slightly intrigued. I did a search today to see what other blog sites I could find and compare them to JU, and see if they all follow a similar pattern, or of their are huge differences. Now maybe I'm just completely loyal I don't know, but none of the ones I came across were even close to JU, biased maybe? Me? Never! Hehe! I did find a rather interesting article though, which you can find here Link that had me completely intrigued. Blogging the new jounalism? At first i wasn't to sure about this but after reading the article, one or two things made quite a bit of sense.

"They are opinionated, ranting, often incoherent and frequently biased with little regard for accuracy or balance. They are also compellingly addictive and threatening to emerge as a new brand of journalism."

Hehe, sound familiar to any of you folks? I thought I would keep my blog as a form of diary, which it is, I thought I would record day to day events in my life, and it would be away of venting things, and obviously would be something I enjoyed because I love writing so much. Over time though I've seen it as a way of voicing my opinion on things, commenting on things I've seen, sharing my thoughts on things, and not just keeping it as a running commentary on my life. I've tried not to have it to serious, as I have wanted to keep it light hearted and fun, which really is what the whole point of blogging is. Sometimes though you can't help but get passionate on certain issues, you feel so strongly that emotion does take over and you do just let things spill out onto the keybaord that you might not normally, but this website has given you the opportunity to do that. To tackle serious issues that you want to talk about, you want to debate about. It's all about learning, learning from others and learning from your own ability and that's what makes it so special.

"Perhaps one attraction of blogging lies in its unmediated and dynamic quality. Without an agenda, editorial stance or pedantic sub-editor standing between the writer and reader, blogging can provide reportage in a raw and exciting form."

If I'm honest I don't really have alot of respect for jounalists anymore, there seems to be other motives to the things they publish, as with most things in the world, it's turning into being just about money, it's what makes the world go round, huh? These journalists I'm sure have a passion about what they write about, they don't get paid to great, and they get to share opinions with the world, but it's censored, it's written for a reason, and it can't always be counted as the truth. Not that I'm saying blogs can be, but more on that later. When you read someones blog, they are writing it from the heart, they are writing it because in a certain way it has touched them, now their are exceptions to every rule, we know this, but the majority are writing with no other motives than to share their opinions with everyone else, and maybe even educate a few people in the process.

"If they're not sticking to standards, it'll be noticed by readers and other webloggers, who will take the author to task for the impropriety. The community acts as the editors."

This is my favourite bit 'the community acts as the editors' so true! We encourage each other, we question each other, we push each other that extra mile, and that in my opinion is what makes it so different. You don't just write something and have no feedback. You are encouraged to voice your opinion, and tell people why you think such things, but you can also be questioned on it, you can get into debates about things. If your facts aren't right people have the power to tell you. It's not even about making people look stupid, it's just about good intelligent debate, and as long as people don't forget it is good fun, blogging could go a long way!

Comments (Page 2)

Gene Nash

on Jul 03, 2004

Fie on't. (That's Shakespearean for F-U.)

BTW, that was directed solely at Mason.

MasonM

on Jul 03, 2004

smartaz, the comment was meant in a humorous vein, hence the "err..." Sorry my humor is not to your taste.

Sally jacobs

on Jul 03, 2004

Ok. This comment is going to be way too long. It might have to be posted independently

Marco! I was just getting into that comment...I look forward to reading the article! hehe!

Sally. This was a great article and you can't believe how happy i was to see it featured. Well done.

Thanks Marco, as always you're to kind!

It has to be logical, keep emotion out of it or get hammered.

I may make logical arguments (well in my opinion!) but I can't help but have emotion in it, isn't that the biggest difference between blogging and jounalism?

Mason thank you so much for that comment! Why is it you always manage to say things better than I ever could!

While bloggers may do the same things at times, we get to see a lot of differing opinions and views instead of just the editorial viewpoint of the particular "news" outlet and thus may actually wind up with a better idea of where the truth may lie.

This is the point, we don't just get what the editor wants to see, we get an honest viewpoint from one person, and we can choose to use that as we wish, to believe it or not.

Beyond that, blogging exposes one to a huge census of opinions and cultural/social viewpoints and allows one to experience an exposure to a world cuture that would otherwise be unavailable. Seems to me that's REAL journalism in it's rawest form.

Yay! That just about sums it up.....

Mumsy Mig! hehe! Thanks for the comment, and I really appreciate all the support you've given me! It's people like you who make this site and I completely adore you and a few others here, and that's what really makes this site

I'm not only going to stop commenting on other people's blogs. I think I'll stop reading them. Sheesh.

...Smartaz I always appreciate your comments, as I know many other people do, I really hope you don't stop commenting because it always adds something to the article.

greywar

on Jul 03, 2004

I think Smartaz accidentally showed the difference between the majority of blogger (on this site) and journalists. Most of the folks here desperately crave feedback even if it is critical while journalists have become very used to ignoring criticism of their work by anyone other than their peers. Check out Noam Chomsky's blog if you really want to see how paranoid these folks are about hearing how the public feels about their stuff. He only started "allowing" coment after a large hue and cry was set up over the lack thereof. Even now it is a restricted audience.

Of course they are perfectly within thier rights to feel this way and I mean no disrespect to Smartaz by pointing this attitudinal difference. (I have read his reasoning behind disallowing commentary and can see some very salient points) but I bring it up simply to highlight the difference between conventional journalists and bloggers.

Sally jacobs

on Jul 04, 2004

Thanks for the comment greywar, it's appreciated. Isn't critism what improves things such as writing? It may not be what you always want to here, but surely some of the feedback can be invaluable to your own writing. I'm talking from a jounalistic perspective perspective there, because they are wriiting on a much more serious level. However people turning the comments off here, though personally I enjoy the feedback, and I feel it adds to my articles, I can see why people turn this option off. Each to their own I guess!

David St Hubbins

on Jul 04, 2004

Yesterday I read a really great article here on JoeUser. I left a short comment "great post and great article", partly because the author has previously complained about not getting enough feedback, but mostly because it was a really great article.

A few hours later the same poster suggested in reply to one of my posts that Canadians should be pissed on. Nice.

That's why I don't leave nice comments on people's blogs.

Sally jacobs

on Jul 04, 2004

David I suppose this is the risk we take, though I don't think we should let other peoples behaviour change our own. We should still leave them nice comments, and words of encouragement, otherwise aren't we just as bad as them? i know I appreciate all the comments I get.

DylanZimmerman

on Jul 04, 2004

New Journalism? Scary...I just read Mig's post on bloggers being arrested, so I'm a little nervous about it now, authorities always make me nervous whether i've done anything wrong or not..

Good article Sal, it deserves all the kudos..in fact -you do. top ten and everything. woo! Well done!! I'm humbled..I really am. See? YOu really are a wonderful writer and its great to see people appreciating your work.

All my congrats..
catch up soon sweedie.
love Dyl xx

Sally jacobs

on Jul 04, 2004

Good article Sal, it deserves all the kudos..in fact -you do. top ten and everything. woo! Well done!! I'm humbled..I really am. See? YOu really are a wonderful writer and its great to see people appreciating your work.

Thanks sweety! I just left a long ass message on your blog. YOU humbled! Hehe, I'm the one who should be humbled having a fabulous writer like you saying that!

Gideon MacLeish

on Jul 04, 2004

One person went so far as to say that they didn't care if their arguement was totally correct, it was more important to "stir the pot" and make people think about it. We've seen this more and more as election time approaches, and the allegations have been made that on the internet it is more important for propaganda to be believed than it is to be true.

reminds me of the old (Greek, I think it was?) standard used by philosophers of the eloquence of the argument being more important than its substance.

Gideon MacLeish

on Jul 04, 2004

I started lenbert.joeuser.com for a number of reasons.I use to write VOLUMES in highschool and college, both prose and poetry I stopped writing about 20 years ago.Lately I have had an itch to get back into writting, not only from a journalistic standpoint, but also issues and ideas that I feel a need to get off my chest.

lenbert,

Very much the same reasons I started a blog. The visibility is a good plus for feedback (sometimes, except when a piece that is dear to you sinks like a stone without a single comment).

As to baker's comments: if I am in error, personally, I'd rather be called on it. I consider myself kind of a pseudo op-ed journalist, a writer, and a minister, and my credibility is important to me. But I think the angle I take is one of a minority of bloggers, sadly.

HMmmmmmmmmmm

on Jul 05, 2004

Every blogger I've met in real life... In person. Smells of cheese and moth balls. I don't know why.

Next time you meet a blogger, ask them if you can scratch and sniff them. You'll see what I mean.

Sally jacobs

on Jul 05, 2004

I'm not going to delete this, though I should, you keep on proving I like weirdos, I don't mind! You should of just napped!

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