is blogging innovating journalism?

(just a little note…i’m not gonna cite these things any more because i don’t need to write a paper anymore. i’ll just give you a nice link from now on)

The article (www.innovationjournalism.org/archive/INJO-3-4/baltatzis.pdf) by the people at innovationjournalism.org talks about how rumors and rants seem to be commonplace in the blogosphere, so how do you decide which blogs are credible?

Ken Paulman from The Spokesman Review says, “We hold all news to the same standards, regardless of whether it’s online or in print. But that raises a different question: do readers hold information they read on the Internet to a different standard? Do you trust a story more because it’s in black-and-white on a sheet of newsprint, or does it make a difference? What about typos and grammatical errors?

• i think he makes a valid point. do we think things are less credible because they’re online? maybe so. it seems as if people are putting more faith in the internet, but even so, some are hesitant. every joe-schmoe could, theoretically, type up a blog if he wanted to, so why should we hold the general public to the same standards as those professional journalists?

“Blog responsibly, and you’ll build a reputation for being a trusted news source. Don’t, and you won’t have a reputation to worry about.” (John Hiler)

• hmm. so it looks like if you keep posting true information, you build a reputation. figures as much. people aren’t typically as stupid as we make them out to be; they won’t believe every single thing on the internet, just as they will believe things that have hard evidence backing them up.

what does it all mean?

alright, so i’ve finished my paper and turned it in, although i wish i didnt have to just yet. this issue is one that has just begun to grow and i feel that trying to make any conclusions now is pointless. the credibility of bloggers is increasing and changing and it still all depends on who you ask.

but, since it was for a class and on a deadline, i came up with a conclusion anyhow. when it comes to bloggers having rights and credibility, the public thinks they deserve it (for the most part). this is evident in the rising popularity of blogs and the fact that people are giving more authority to bloggers. however, the big officials are still refusing to accept bloggers as equal to professional journalists, for the most part. For example, the French government recently banned non-professional journalists from filming and releasing footage of violent acts and blogger Josh Wolf has been in jail for a record number of days now for refusing to disclose a tape he has of a political protest.

So what does this mean for the future of blogs? well, it’s hard to tell for sure, but my guess is that, sooner than later, bloggers will begin to get some of the same rights, privileges and access that journalists have. They’ll be protected under a form of the shield law and they will start wearing press passes around their necks at red carpet premiers. but i dont think the laws will be exactly the same…they’ll have to include some caveats for bloggers, because it might make it too easy for a guilty felon to cover his ass by getting his accomplices to become bloggers and therefore protect him as a source. some loophole like that will undoubtedly show up.

this issue, like i said, will only get bigger and will only climb up on the agenda. keep your eyes open, and keep blogging

Mediator Fails to Free Imprisoned Blogger

Citation

Egelko, Bob. "Mediator Fails to Free Imprisoned Blogger." San Francisco Chronicle  9 Mar. 2007: B4.

     19 Mar. 2007. 19 Mar. 2007 <http://sfgate.com>. 

Summary

Blogger Josh Wolf was imprisoned by San Francisco authorities for refusing to show them a video tape of a political protest he shot for his blog. He says he refuses to show the tape because it does not contain any evidence and he does not want to be part of the prosecution. Attorneys argue that Wolf is not an “actual reporter,” so he does not have a shield law protecting him.

Quotes

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Finigan has described Wolf in a court filing as delusional and a self-styled journalistic martyr who was not an actual reporter, just someone with a video camera at a public event. Journalists’ associations, however, regard him as a journalist who was there to film the demonstration for his blog.

On Feb. 6, Wolf became the longest-imprisoned journalist in U.S. history for defying a court order.

Review/Analysis

This case is revolutionary. It seems as if Wolf has the support of the journalistic/blogging community, who do in fact believe that he is a “real” reporter. It’s officials, however, that believe he is not a real reporter, and thus should not have the same rights as a reporter.

Blogs are gaining credibility. It seems as if it doesn’t matter the source, people just want information. Officials may be slow to realize this because independent media and bloggers may pose as a threat.

Can Papers End the Free Ride Online?

Citation

Seelye, Katharine Q. "Can Papers End the Free Ride Online?" New York Times 14 Mar. 2005. 19 Mar.

     2007 <http://www.nytimes.com>. 

Summary

Newspapers are losing big money to their online editions. People don’t like to pay for things they can get for free. This is a big reason why print newspapers are on the decline. Some newspapers have debated making readers subscribe to their online counterparts for a fee, but it doesn’t look promising right now. Things like national news, which can be found pretty much anywhere, won’t do well if a paper charges because of precisely that. The Wall Street Journal is able to charge its online readers because it is a financial publication, so it can be counted as a business expense. Other small dailies charge for their online papers in an effort to save the print version, but online readership has dropped dramatically, according to Ken Sands, online publisher of Spokane’s The Spokesman-Review.

Quotes

“Print is going the way it’s going, which is down, which is unfortunate because it’s the revenue engine that keeps this whole thing going. The online business model won’t ever be able to support the whole news infrastructure.” (Ken Sands)

“Newspapers are cannibalizing themselves,” said Frederick W. Searby, an advertising and  publishing analyst at J.P. Morgan.

Review/Analysis

This article says to me that the decline of print newspapers is not because people don’t care for “quality news” anymore–it is purely financial. The fact that the online readership is increasing is fact enough that people still enjoy reading the news. People still find their same trust print papers credible, they just don’t like to pay for what they can get for free.

This means that the credibility of newspapers is not on the decline, nor is people’s thirst for reliability. Newspapers are as trustworthy as ever. Blogs, if they hope to be as widely read as newspapers, will have to maintain that same sense of credibility.

journalism.org study

Citation

The State of the News Media 2007. Ed. Amy Mitchell and Tom Rosenstiel. www.journalism.org. 16 Mar.

     2007. 19 Mar. 2007 <http://stateofthemedia.org>. 

Summary

The people at journalism.org surveyed reporters, journalists, and basically all media people about what’s happening in media now. Basically, the internet is on the rise and newspapers are slowly on the decline because more readers are going online. This means they don’t make as much money, because online advertising isn’t as profitable as print advertising. There’s a lot more, but it’s far too much to summarize.

Quotes

“Is the newspaper industry dying? Not now. On an average day, roughly 51 million people still buy a newspaper, and 124 million in all still read one.^“

“When online and print readers are combined, the audience for what newspapers produce is higher than ever.”

Review/Analysis

Newspapers specialized before as a sort of “fourth branch” to the government, as a check on the other branches. If another branch did something wrong, they would be sure that the media would find out about it. But, as newspapers die out, there are less checks on the government. The journalism.org study says that basic monitoring of local governments has already started to worsen. This means governments can get away with more. Newspapers need to stay in business to act as a check on the government.

Also, there is a new Answer Culture, as opposed to the old, questioning culture. Journalism used to pride itself on presenting both sides and letting the viewer/reader decide. Now clearly partisan anchors like Bill O’Reilly are becoming more popular. They are outwardly biased, but still, their ratings are doing well. Apparently, being biased does not hurt your credibility. In fact, in this Answer Culture, it might even help it.

As blogs become bigger, they are gaining attention. What makes them special–their vulnerability and changeability– also presents a problem for them because people can “vandalize” them. So, to battle this problem, some bloggers have begun blogger associations to protect the integrity of blogs and create a code of ethics. However, as they establish these more professional associations, they also lose some of the amateur aspect that is so appealing. I think that, with all these professional bloggers joining together, blogs will become increasingly more credible and reliable because, with the ethics code, they will actually have something to answer to.

here is already evidence that basic monitoring of local government has suffered.

Newspapers vs. Blogs Opinion

Citation

Booth, David. "Newspapers vs. blogs: no comparison: Internet is more about sifting for truth than

     surfing." National Post [Toronto, Canada] 2 Feb. 2007, Toronto ed.: DT2. LexisNexis Academic.

     LexisNexis. U of California, Santa Barbara. 18 Mar. 2007 <http://web.lexis-nexis.com/

     universe>. 

Summary

This guy bought a hi-def TV and went online to find info about it. He was overwhelmed by the technical jargon the reviews used and thought the reviews were idiotic. He believes newspapers will live on despite the boom of the internet because they sort out the good from the bad.

Quotes

“Unfortunately, other than reviewing those few Web pages that disseminate useful information, I can offer you no formula for ferreting out the good from the truly demented. That is why, in the end, I think newspapers are going to survive the worldwide onslaught just fine.”

“Any newspaper section is only as good as its editors and writers and we at Driving are lucky to have a roster of the very best.”

Review/Analysis

Because this is just an opinion column (and a very ranty one), I don’t think i’ll use this much except to demonstrate dissenting opinion. I think he has a point, though, when he says that newspapers weed out the morons. Online, because everyone has a voice, obviously sometimes some idiots will write things. Newspapers have an advantage, though, because they have editors that can nix people if they don’t write well/honestly, and can correct errors.

france censors blogs!??!

Citation:

Sayer, Peter. "France Bans Citizen Journalists From Reporting Violence." InfoWorld 6 Mar. 2007. 17

     Mar. 2007 <http://www.infoworld.com/>. 

Summary:

France has banned citizen journalists from filming violent act in an attempt to stop “happy slapping.” They say only those whose job it is to report on violent acts or people who are filming for evidence are the only ones allowed to film. Acts are punishable by 5 years in prison and a fine equivalent to $98,537, which is sometimes more than the violent act itself. The government is also proposing a certification system for Web sites, blog hosting sites, mobile-phone operators and Internet service providers. The government will approve them if they abide by certain rules. Reporters without Borders is worried that such a system would cause excessive self-censorship by these companies in an effort to be approved by the government.

Quotes:

” He is concerned that the law, and others still being debated, will lead to the creation of a parallel judicial system controlling the publication of information on the Internet.” (he=Pascal Cohet, a spokesman for French online civil liberties group Odebi)

Review/Analysis

This article is important in that is it the first piece of legislation (at least that i’ve come across) that explicitly distinguishes “citizen journalists” (bloggers) and professional journalists. Apparently, the French government does NOT think that bloggers should have the same rights as journalists. This, in their hopes, will stop happy slapping (like when Billy slaps Jessie so Billy & friends can film it and laugh at it later). They are assuming that, if these people will be prosecuted if they are caught, they’ll stop doing it. The law does, however, allow people to videotape acts that will then be used in jurisdiction, so that’s good.

I can use this to discuss, in my paper, what people really think of bloggers vs. journalists. Clearly, the French government does not feel that they deserve the same rights. It seems like they’re making a judgment on the type of people bloggers/citizen journalists are–irresponsible and destructive. I think this will have a huge backlash in the blogging community because many bloggers are not these types of people.

You’ll have to excuse me for a second…I’m about to become completely and opendly unbiased in reviewing this information. WTF FRANCE?! I understand your intentions. Yeah, i wanna stop unruly teens from hurting people too, but i can’t fix the whole world! just because you don’t let them film it anymore doesn’t mean they wont do it. This will definitely lead to censorship of more things (i know, slippery slope isn’t that reliable logic-wise, but i still think there’s some truth to it, esp here). Without the check of the press, the government will be able to get away with more. What if people now can’t report on things that political people do? oh, actually, the law thought of that…anyway, nevermind all this political stuff, gettin me all riled up.

Reporters Vs. Bloggers Survey

Citation

Arnold, Nicki. Survey. 10 Mar. 2007.

Quotes
(note: this survey was taken anonymously, so these quotes have nobody attributed to them)
“Professional journalists are held to standards that the private individual wrtiing a blog is not. This lends credibility to the journalist. Yet, I prefer reading blogs for a more personal perspective.”
“US news is horribly biased…But so are blogs…Though blogs are driven by one person’s opiion rather than corporate sponsorship so I’m less cynical when reading them. Blogs are more open.”
“Blogs can be bullshit if they want too reports have to be credible due to the fact that every thing that they publish is questioned and critised”
“I feel that blogs are mainly for one to vent, or just to write their opinions and experiences. I have never had the expectation of a blog to be a factual current event source.”
“The source of the blog matters. For example, there are microsoft employees that have their own blogs. I trust what they say about microsoft more than a newspaper article.”
“Newspaper stories, while not always accurate, are subject to many more restrictions than blogs and therefore are more reliable.”

Summary

This survey, created by me, was taken by 40 people of whose ages I’m not really sure. It should be noted that this survey was online only, so the results will not be as accurate, because only people with access to the internet could take the survey.
7 questions were asked:
1. How often do you read a non-student produced newspaper?
(a few times a week: 13; 32.5%)
2. How do you get the news?
(Online: 36; 90%)
3. Have you ever read a blog? This includes “online diaries,” myspace blogs, etc.
(yes: 36; 90%)
4. If so, what was it about? If you have read multiple blogs, check all that apply.
(It was someone’s diary: 29; 80.6%)
5. If a blog and a credible newspaper (i.e. the New York Times or the L.A. Times)
covered the same story and had the same information, which would you be more
likely to trust?
(newspaper: 29; 74.4%)
6. Do you think blogs and newspaper have the same credibility and reliability?
(No, not right now, but maybe in the future: 26; 65%)
7. What other comments about blogs and reporting in general do you have?
(see quotes)

Review/Analysis
Overall, the numbers seem to say that people enjoy blogs, even if it’s only for entertainment purposes. Since most people get the news online (90%) and most people have read a blog before (also 90%), I believe this shows that people are turning to the internet more and more for their information.
The question about whether blogs and newspapers carrying the same story have the same trustworthiness (#5) yielded interesting results. While the majority of people (74.4%) said newspapers would be more credible, the rest of the people (25.6%) said neither would be more trustworthy than the other (nobody thought blogs would be more credible). I think this shows that people are necessarily looking for the source their information comes from, but rather that it is true. Perhaps newspaper bylines are becoming less and less important.
The last question about whether blogs were just as credible and reliable showed me that people are starting to put their faith in blogs. While only one person said they were equally credible, most of the people thought that blogs might, in the future, have the same credibility and reliability as newspapers. I think people are recognizing the power of the blogosphere and are starting to trust blogs as they become more popular. That, or they are starting to trust newspapers less.
The quote from the person that said he/she prefered blogs for a more personal perspective confirms something that I’ve been finding in my research. I find that people typically like blogs because they are written from a personal perspective, allowing the reader to “get to know” the blogger. Also, it seems that, from the quotes I gathered, some people appreciate that a blogger’s opinion is right up front, and they don’t try to hide it. This says to me that biases don’t exactly hurt a source’s credibility, at least not when they own up to them.

Media Ethics: Cases and Moral Reasoning (7th Edition)

Christians, Clifford G., et al. “Truthtelling.” Media Ethics: Cases and Moral Reasoning. 7th     ed. Boston: Pearson Education, Inc., 2005. 64-66.

“Fabrication at the Globe“

Quotes

“As anyone who’s ever touched a newspaper knows, that’s one of the cardinal sins of journalism: Thou shalt not fabricate. No exceptions.” –Patricia Smith

Summary

This piece focuses on columnist Patricia Smith at the Globe who, in trying to be the best, fabricated her quotes. She made up quotes to fit perfectly into her columns and even made up the people to go along with them. Her editors noticed the quotes as fitting in almost too well, and checked out her sources, which they couldn’t find. When they brought it up with her, she admitted to fabricating those sources. When they asked her to resign, she complied.

A similar situation happened with writer Mike Barnicle. In one of his columns, he made jokes that were ripped off from comedian George Carlin. He contested, however, and said that he’d never read George Carlin’s material and had just heard these things from a friend. However, previous to the incident, on a news station, he recommended that viewers read George Carlin’s book. Still, he claimed he had never actually read it. His editors asked him to resign anyway, but he refused. Then, in the next week, it was discovered that Barnicle had plagarized another critic in another one of his columns. After this, he resigned.

Review/Analysis

I’m personally very interested in this story because neither of these writers had to be fired; instead, they (more or less) voluntarily resigned. Even though their editorial staff had asked for their resignation, they knew they were wrong, and agreed to quit. This to me says that there is an unspoken agreement among journalists, that if you do something wrong (i.e. plagarize) you will quit. To be respected in the community, you must tell the truth in your stories. I think this extends to the blogging community and to bloggers because, if a blogger is incorrect in telling his facts or if he rips off someone else without giving credit, he will lose respect. Since really the only thing bloggers are going for is respect (no money involved for most), I believe that they will tell the truth just for the sake of good journalism.

Also, in the Barnicle story, Barnicle’s editors didn’t catch the mistake, but instead others did. This says to me that readers can act as editors just as well as editors can themselves. Maybe we can cut out editors, much like cutting out a middle man. If the community fact-checks, then the stories will be valid. In a blog, especially a popular blog, often the community will call out the blogger if he is wrong or he plagiarizes. In a way, I think this is saying that blogs can be just as credible as newspaper stories, because readers will fact check and verify in much the same way editors will.

Intro to Blogging

citation

“Introduction to Blogging.” WordPress. Ed. Ryan Boren and Matt Mullenweg. 27 Feb. 2007. 28 Feb. 2007.

http://codex.wordpress.org/Introduction_to_Blogging#The_Difference_Between_a_Blog_and_CMS.3F

summary

WordPress gives those new to blogging what a blog is all about, in layman’s terms. This serves as a perfect place to start thinking about blogs because the concepts are fairly basic.

quotes

Generally speaking (though there are exceptions), blogs tend to have a few things in common:
A main content area with articles listed chronologically, newest on top. Often, the articles are organized into categories.
An archive of older articles.
A way for people to leave comments about the articles.
A list of links to other related sites, sometimes called a “blogroll”.
One or more “feeds” like RSS, Atom or RDF files.

This ability to organize and present articles in a composed fashion is much of what makes blogging a popular personal publishing tool.

A better explanation is this:

Person A writes something on their blog.
Person B wants to comment on Person A’s blog, but wants her own readers to see what she had to say, and be able to comment on her own blog
Person B posts on her own blog and sends a trackback to Person A’s blog
Person A’s blog receives the trackback, and displays it as a comment to the original post. This comment contains a link to Person B’s post

The idea here is that more people are introduced to the conversation (both Person A’s and Person B’s readers can follow links to the other’s post), and that there is a level of authenticity to the trackback comments because they originated from another weblog. Unfortunately, there is no actual verification performed on the incoming trackback, and indeed they can even be faked.

Comments on blogs are often criticized as lacking authority, since anyone can post anything using any name they like: there’s no verification process to ensure that the person is who they claim to be.

Review/Analysis

This info page, although somewhat biased, provides a great introduction to blogging. It breaks down the confusing, computery parts of the blog that I had a harder time understanding. It explains that content and comments are basically the lifeblood of the blog. Without content, a blog is literally nothing. Comments are what feed bloggers and are part of why blogs are so popular and influential.

Archives seem to be really important to the blogging community, but I still can’t figure out why. To me, they just seem like the names of all your posts in chronological order. But, apparently, this is revolutionary.

Blogrolls provide a way to link your readers to other blogs you enjoy reading or that are related to your topic. Feeds and RSS provide a way for your readers to keep track of when you post new updates, so every time you update, they know. It gives the blogger incentive to post often, because the reader will return often.

Trackbacks are where one bloggers sees another blogger’s post, is interested enough to comment, so he takes the blog and posts a link to it on his own site, where he comments about it. This supposedly increases authenticity because readers can track both blogs. Pingbacks automatically send a pingback to the original blogger, who then goes to the second person’s blog to confirm that the pingback did, in fact, originate at the blogger’s site. *phew* that’s a mouthful.

Permalinks are another one of those things that seem fairly obvious to me, but are important to the blogging community. A permalink is the one where your blog or posts can be found. It’s a “pretty” permalink if it says something like “nickiblog.com/research/blog/intro” because then the user can see what it’s about in the URL, instead of something like “nickiblog.com/indexphp.234552=?”. Nobody knows what that means.

Lastly, the site gives some tips to bloggers just starting off. They recommend a blogger post useful/content-filled blogs often, stick to one topic, don’t put irritating banners or “vote me!” things all over your blog, and, above all, have fun blogging.