Blogger Vs. Journalist Debate Revisited

Jan 10, 2007

Actually there should be no debate. Bloggers and journalists are a breed apart although they both write and they both have the abilities to change opinions and perceptions of their readers. But there is a fundamental difference between them: journalists are always reporting events and commenting on them. Bloggers most of the time comment on what the journalists have covered or dug out. They often also comment on stuff written by other bloggers. But does it apply to all the bloggers?

I don’t think so. There are many bloggers these days who are covering live events, whether it’s politics, sports, conferences, natural disasters, and even wars. In the case of Iranian bloggers they even incur the wrath of their government for blogging, so it’s not that it’s just journalists who take risks and do perilous reporting.

An article in CNetAsia says whereas journalists can easily become bloggers, for bloggers it’s difficult to become journalists, and I partially agree. Partially because bloggers — regular, serious bloggers — are good writers too unless they write horribly just to prove a point. Journalists on the other hand are attuned to writing well because they have to go through an editor in order to have their works published. I think this is good. Nothing personal, but I don’t really appreciate people who don’t take their writing seriously. Not having your writing editing doesn’t mean you can have a field day.

You must be wondering why I write so much about journalists and bloggers. It’s because I think blogging is a great tool journalists can use. Great works of journalism don’t see the light of the day because the editors don’t deem them fit for publishing. Along with getting published in newspapers and magazines and online publications, I think journalists should maintain active blogs. Journalism is not just about getting the scoops and publishing news, it’s about exposing things. It’s about giving voice to millions of those who want to be heard. It’s about raising issues that are relevant socially, but are not profitable politically. These issues sometimes get buried under the editorial rubble. Blogs can resurrect them, unearth them.

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