{"id":33,"date":"2003-05-15T13:24:00","date_gmt":"2003-05-15T17:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/amytest\/2003\/05\/15\/is-blogging-journalism\/"},"modified":"2012-05-07T15:19:10","modified_gmt":"2012-05-07T19:19:10","slug":"is-blogging-journalism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/amy\/2003\/05\/15\/is-blogging-journalism\/","title":{"rendered":"Is blogging journalism?"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/p>\n

A News Hour with Jim Lehrer piece (Apri 28) on Weblogging<\/a> poses this question, with this important outtake from Joan Connell (executive producer, MSNBC.com) who says that at least hers are:<\/p>\n

“One of the values that we place on our own weblogs is that we edit our webloggers. Out there in the blogosphere, often it goes from the mind of the blogger to the mind of the reader, and there’s no backup.<\/p>\n

And I would submit that that editing function really is the factor that makes it journalism. Are you making a mistake here? Do you really want to say that? Do you really want to use that word? Is that libelous?”<\/p>\n

I’d agree with Connell on that point, that editing is an important variable in the equation… editing adds value to writing as a process that builds accuracy, objectivity and therefore trust. Trust is really the key.<\/p>\n

The real question, however, isn’t is blogging journalism?, but rather when is blogging journalism and when is it personal expression or something else? Blogging is just the tool… <\/strong>it’s the medium… the technology… like a billboard or a printing press or a radio station… it can be used for a variety of purposes, one of which is journalism. Journalism moved to blogs is still journalism, although in the new medium, the effort can benefit (or be hurt) by the new advantages (and disadvantages) of the new medium — such as speed, RSS distribution, associations and links on other credible and noncredible sites, etc.<\/p>\n

Blogging does not make one a journalist. Being a journalist does. So the question would be better asked, “What is journalism?” It’s a question that we should ask not just of bloggers, but also of those in the business of infotainment, disguised as journalists, who spout opinion and spin using traditional media. Maybe we all need a refresher course…<\/p>\n

What is journalism?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Society of Professional Journalists’
\nCode of Ethics<\/a><\/p>\n

Collection of essays on online journalistic ethics<\/a><\/p>\n

See also: Consumer Webwatch<\/a> for more on building trust and credibility on the web.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A News Hour with Jim Lehrer piece (Apri 28) on Weblogging poses this question, with this important outtake from Joan Connell (executive producer, MSNBC.com) who says that at least hers are: “One of the values that we place on our …<\/p>\n

Is blogging journalism?<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":89,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[194],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-new-media"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/amy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/amy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/amy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/amy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/89"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/amy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/amy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":879,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/amy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33\/revisions\/879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/amy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/amy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/amy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}