Are Bloggers Journalist?
For my assignment in my online blogging class this week we are asked to give our opinion on whether or not we believe that bloggers are journalist? Before answering this question I am going to define what a journalist is according to Merriam- Webster dictionary. A journalist is “a person engaged in journalism especially: a writer or editor for a news medium”.
I have mixed emotions when it comes to this question. I believe that there are some bloggers who can be classified as a journalist, but the majority of bloggers cannot be classified as journalist. According to the definition above journalist are people who are paid by a magazine or newspaper company. So by definition bloggers who are not paid for what they do cannot be called journalist. I know there is a lot of bloggers who believe that they are journalist but they are not because even though bloggers get news out to people, they are not paid for it and could do it optionally. Being a journalist is a person’s occupation, while blogging is a person’s hobby. So if all bloggers were considered to be journalist that would bring down the credibility of the title journalist, because there could be people like myself who are occasional bloggers to be called journalist.
On the other hand I believe that all bloggers who are paid are journalist. The obvious reason for this is because journalist are people who are paid to write news, and bloggers who are paid to write news no matter what the news is should be considered the same.
The reading my classmates and myself had to do this week for our course gave an example of a blogger who is paid to blog for Forbes magazine. In the article it talked about how a federal judge who created this seven requirement criteria for individuals to be considered a journalist. Some of the requirements listed as the job was ok, but there were others who were just outright outrages in my opinion. One of the outrages requirements made by the judge in my opinion was that the person must “Contacting the other side to get both sides of a story”. This is ridiculous because demanding that someone gets both sides of a story to be considered a journalist is ridiculous. There are some paid writers who write that getting both sides of a story is not for their material.
Overall I think that whether or not bloggers can be called journalist depends on the personal opinion of the person involved. I have asked people this question in some of my courses and have come away with many different answers.
April 17th, 2012 at 2:24 am
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April 23rd, 2012 at 5:01 am
Are Bloggers Journalist?
For my assignment in my online blogging class this week we are asked to give our opinion on whether or not we believe that bloggers are journalist? Before answering this question I am going to define what a journalist is according to Merriam- Webster dictionary. A journalist is “a person engaged in journalism especially: a writer or editor for a news medium”.
I have mixed emotions when it comes to this question. I believe that there are some bloggers who can be classified as a journalist, but the majority of bloggers cannot be classified as journalist. According to the definition above journalist are people who are paid by a magazine or newspaper company. So by definition bloggers who are not paid for what they do cannot be called journalist. I know there is a lot of bloggers who believe that they are journalist but they are not because even though bloggers get news out to people, they are not paid for it and could do it optionally. Being a journalist is a person’s occupation, while blogging is a person’s hobby. So if all bloggers were considered to be journalist that would bring down the credibility of the title journalist, because there could be people like myself who are occasional bloggers to be called journalist.
On the other hand I believe that all bloggers who are paid are journalist. The obvious reason for this is because journalist are people who are paid to write news, and bloggers who are paid to write news no matter what the news is should be considered the same.
The reading my classmates and myself had to do this week for our course gave an example of a blogger who is paid to blog for Forbes magazine. In the article it talked about how a federal judge who created this seven requirement criteria for individuals to be considered a journalist. Some of the requirements listed as the job was ok, but there were others who were just outright outrages in my opinion. One of the outrages requirements made by the judge in my opinion was that the person must “Contacting the other side to get both sides of a story”. This is ridiculous because demanding that someone gets both sides of a story to be considered a journalist is ridiculous. There are some paid writers who write that getting both sides of a story is not for their material.
Overall I think that whether or not bloggers can be called journalist depends on the personal opinion of the person involved. I have asked people this question in some of my courses and have come away with many different answers.