Are Bloggers Journalists?
Apr 17th, 2012 by Andrew
I believe that bloggers are in some cases journalists, and in some cases they’re not. Blogging can be a simple hobby, or it can be part of your career. There are some bloggers that take the time and research stories, like journalists do. In this case I think that a blogger would be considered a “hybrid journalist”. But there are some blogs that are simple online diaries about topics that the author enjoys. Like my personal blog for example, I write about beer that I have personally tasted and write about the experience it brought me. I wouldn’t consider myself a journalist, however. I would just consider my blog a forum of my personal ideas about different beer. There are some bloggers, however, that research issues and report them just like a journalist would do. Bloggers that write for the Huffington Post or Gizmodo would be considered journalists in my opinion. These bloggers go through the effort that any authentic journalist would do to report their story. I definitely support the idea that you don’t need a degree in journalism to be considered a journalist. There are many bloggers that post about important issues on their website that I would consider a form of journalism, even though they’re probably not getting paid to write their stories or they haven’t graduated from college with a degree in journalism, I’d still consider them as journalists. Let’s say for example a blogger named Perez Hilton. Perez is a famous blogger who writes about celebrity gossip, and through his website, “perezhilton.com” he has become a national celebrity. Some may not consider him a journalist, but I personally would. He takes the time to research his stories through personal experience and interaction with celebrities, such as reporters do from TMZ. Through his blog he has acquired national fame and even has been offered several TV appearances that demand his opinion on current celebrity stories. There are also several sports bloggers who take the time to interview athletes and attend sporting events to gather information to post on their blog, just like a paid journalist would do for a local paper. Overall I believe that it all depends on the research and time a blogger puts into their stories. Some bloggers are in it for the fun of it, and some take the time to research issues as a journalist would do, and therefor would be considered a journalist-blogger in my opinion.
