Pre-research I feel that it all depends on how you view journalism. If you believe a journalist is someone who writes for a living then I’d say that some bloggers could be considered journalists. If you believe that a journalist is someone who notes their daily activities using a medium then yes bloggers are journalists. I feel that there are many different types of bloggers and that some are journalists and some are not. I differentiate the two by the content of the blog. Many bloggers post research and studies to share with fellow bloggers interested in the same things; I consider spreading valuable knowledge a skill of a journalist.
Post-research I feel that there is a definite difference between what a journalist is and what many bloggers out there do. According to an article in Forbes, written by David Coursey, the U.S. District judge classified being a journalist as having seven qualities or rules; ”education in journalism, credentials or proof of affiliation with a recognized news entity, proof of adherence to journalistic standards such as editing, fact-checking, or disclosures of conflicts of interest, keeping notes of conversations and interviews conducted, mutual understanding or agreement of confidentiality between the defendant and his/her sources, creation of an independent product rather than assembling writings and postings of others, contacting “the other side” to get both sides of a story”. With these classifications, a good amount of bloggers out there are not considered journalists. Opinion blogs, humorous blogs, and microblogging, to name a few are examples of what journalism is not. With the popularity of Twitter, microblogging has become larger than many could have imagined, and many, if not most twitterers do not provide well researched posts. Coursey also pointed out that if one followed these guidelines, they would be considered a news reporter and that only news reporting is considered journalism; a lot of bloggers are nothing like this. He also mentions that when it comes down to it, the main difference will be whether or not one is getting paid to write. I feel that when I hear the word journalist I hear a career. When Coursey mentioned this it made a lot of sense to me because I think of being a journalist as having it be ones occupation.
Overall I feel that there is a difference between being a journalist and being a blogger but it depends on the content that is produced.
Interesting blog post. Never thought of that comparison. Thanks for sharing!