Essay

Journalism and its use of blogs as sources

“A study conducted by Colombia University and Euro RSCG Magnet found 51 percent of journalists use blogs regularly. This is compared to the 11 percent of the general population who use blogs. The study found reporters used them for everything from locating sources to unveiling breaking news. Twenty-eight percent of journalists said they use blogs in their day-to-day reporting.
However, despite frequent blog use, only 1 percent of journalists said blogs are credible” (Nelson, 2005).
Blogging is a new form of participatory journalism, which refers to “individuals playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, sorting, analyzing and disseminating news and information-a task once reserved almost exclusively to the news media” (Lasica, 2003). But it is a journalism of a different kind, unlike traditional journalism it is not tightly confined by the profession's values and traditions. Blogs are now the most popular expression of new media - they have exploded in popularity over the past years, fueled by greater access to bandwidth and free software. More than a half million people have taken up the tools of self-publishing to create personal journals online ranging on a wide range of topics.
“Blogs are open to anyone who can establish and maintain a Web site, and their flexibility, reach and interactivity has helped increase their popularity for publishing opinions” - Walter Mossberg wrote in his Wall Street Journal technology column last March. "The good thing about them is that they introduce fresh voices into the national discourse on various topics, and help build communities of interest through their collections of links" (Lasica, 2003).
As popular and informative as they can be, the issues arising over journalists using blogs as sources have recently caused some problems. “Journalists are interested in 3 types of blogs: blogs that report news, blogs that critique the news, and special interest blogs that serve as news sources” (Quinn. S, Filak.V.F 2005, p. 76). The issue is that Journalists aren't just writing blogs, they're using them as fodder for reporting.
The Australian for example reported a story on the two missing girls who were later confirmed suicide pact victims. The journalists for the obtained information from the girls’ myspace blogs which could have upset their friends and family and created an image of them that could have been untrue. The friends of the 2 16-year-olds Jodie Gater and Stephanie Gestier had posted good bye messages which were published along wit the previous messages of the 2 girls. Information such as that the girls belonged to a band named “bitchy”, indulged in “emo” or “Goth” culture and phrases containing cuss words from their myspace website were also published. Out of this arise the moral and ethical issues of journalists using blogs to acquire information not supported by facts and without consent. The blogs are also troublesome due to the fact that much of the information is unattributed and unsourced. In this case quotes from their songs about suicide were also taken from their blogs. The psychologist in this piece allotted a majority of the blame on usage of the internet and depression associated with it and claimed that parents should taken a most active interest in what their kids do online and make them aware of the public consequences (Cubby & Dubecki, 2007). Many journalists fear that blogging effects have already been unfavorable to their profession-- particularly harmful to them now when public trust in the media is already so low. Despite attacks, Web loggers are fighting for credibility, and some groups insist journalistic privilege should apply to bloggers. (Nelson, 2005)
As there are no checks and balances, no editorial review, and no code of journalist ethics involved, the quality of the "news" reported is thus inherently more suspect. This of course depends upon the blogger, whether or not the blogger is a journalist, he or she could intentionally or unintentionally publish a complete fabrication of events (for example for corporate or political agendas) and for others to reuse that information can have dire consequences (Davis, 2005). Cara Wieser espoused similar logic in a student editorial that ran in the University of Utah's Daily Chronicle. "In my opinion, we are all journalists," Wieser said. "Who is to say one person's idea of relevant news is better than another's? And if opinion, gossip, and soft news are newsworthy enough to have their sections in mainstream publications, they have to be considered 'news' in blogs as well." Thus, observations within blogs may be open-access and valuable, but have to be subject to evaluation and journalists should have a moral stand on what to use (Nelson, 2005).
The lack of traditional standards of journalism in the blog world is worrisome but it can be argued that the corporate ownership of the mainstream media is just as bad, or possibly worse. Bloggers threaten the cultural space and capital of traditional journalists. Journalism as we know it will never be the same; it will merge with blogging creating tension between them – the tension being the need for accountability, quality, and standards (traditional) and the need for access, objectivity, and diversity of the conversation (Knemeyer, 2005). Rebecca blood says the greatest strength of blogging is its “uncensored, unmediated, uncontrolled voice” but its weakness is that it doesn’t have accountibility in the marketplace which compromise its integrity and value (Blood, 2003, p.2).
It is important to set rules for all media, as we have seen blogging in the journalism world raises several issues which need to be understood and solved. The future predicts increased usage of the internet as a media source, out of which further and more serious issues could arise.