The ‘Professional Journalist’: where does this leave the bloggers?
By Tom Tomorrow; from Prospect Magazine's blog (http://blog.prospectblogs.com/2009/03/10/cartoon-the-dismal-future-of-citizen-journalism/)
Last week, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer announced that they were only going to publish online from now on. The 146-year-old newspaper has moved entirely to an online format in order to create “a new type of digital business with a robust, community news and information website at its core.” In the process, the Seattle PI slashed its number of employees from 165 to 20. It is not alone: the New York Times now has an interactive map online, marking each paper as it folds or goes solely online.
It certainly opens up a can of worms, the first of which is whether we are witnessing the end of print media as we know it. What kind of journalist will even occupy the Seattle PI newsroom? It also makes one wonder what this means for the quality of news reporting at the Seattle PI – the culling of over 140 journalists suggests that the online version of the Seattle PI will focus more on regurgitating Associated Press reports, rather than investigating their own news stories. They simply don’t have the army to do this.
By Daryl Cagle; from Reportr.net (http://reportr.net/category/multiplatform-journalism/page/2/)
Which brings us to that lingering question that remains on the tip of our tongues: what actually constitutes good journalism? Do you have to be a “professional” journalist? Or is a blog just as valid as a traditional news outlet?
Amy Gahran, at Poynter, said the following:
I think this basic question – what constitutes integrity in media? - cuts straight to the heart of the discomfort that many traditional journalists experience when they consider the booming field of citizen journalism and grassroots media.
She later declares that “amateurs can learn to produce high-quality news content.”
Yet one wonders whether blogs can truly adhere to the basic principles of journalism:
- Blogs are inherently biased, which makes one question their objectivity.
- There is also a question as to whether bloggers can avoid conflicts of interest with their sources.
- Blogging and commenting are also naturally entwined, so there is a level of collusion.
However, that is not to completely dismiss blogging as a form of journalism:
- Bloggers are good at linking to background information, thus making them far more transparent than their professional counterparts.
- This also makes blogs more accountable, allowing users to check the veracity of their sources.
I think it is ultimately a question of whether we can view journalists as professionals. However, as I’ve written previously:
The problem evidently lies in what is defined as a profession … For a long time, journalism was not taught at school and you did not need a degree to become a journalist. In fact, it could be for this reason that people become journalists in the first place. There is a certain elitism inherent in defining a job as a profession, which places such career paths in a higher social structure. I don’t know whether journalists even want journalism to be perceived as a profession.
Professionals are likely to stockpile their knowledge and then exploit it as capital. Yet journalism has a certain amount of integrity, based on its position as the fourth wall in a democracy. Although the institution of journalism can be greedy and manipulative, the basic concept behind journalism is that its reporters work for the good of the public, and to ensure democracy within society. Journalists serve the people they’re writing for – not for the increased revenue their writing may provide a media publication.
Journalism also has no professional registration. If a lawyer does something wrong, they can be disbarred. If a doctor is negligent, they too can be removed from practice. There is no such thing in journalism (although one could argue that the public and media watchdogs hold journalists accountable). Journalism does have a code of ethics which act as guidelines for the journalist to uphold in order to improve and increase news coverage, but I don’t feel that it is the same as the specialised regulation found in other professions.
That being said, journalism does have elements that hint towards it being a profession. People do profess that they are journalists, and have an intuitive inclination to be one. Journalism is now taught in schools, and so journalism professors do exist. Journalism could potentially be seen as a profession because of its commitment to the public, which lends it a level of legitimacy.
I’m not sure whether I can term journalism as a profession. But even if it can be considered one, I don’t see bloggers as its arch enemy, plotting its demise. While I find that some blogs can be parasitic, I feel this has also been provoked by the state of the current print media publications. A lot of blogs were created as an alternative commentary and news outlet to the traditional models, because of the overwhelming feeling that the main media outlets were pandering to the lowest common denominator and not following their own codes of practice.
In the end, if an online blog can be transparent, accurate and ethical, I feel it can be just as respectable as its print publications. Real quality and truth is what is necessary here. There is an inherent risk in participatory journalism – after all, to find real quality in the blogosphere can be difficult - but the Internet means that the roles and rightful place of the journalist is being redefined.
Perhaps we are witnessing a new revolution in journalism, but it is one that presents an interesting future for both bloggers and journalists alike.
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Tags: blogging, niche publications, online journalism, print journalism
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