Exactly as demonstrated here, over a year since it’s original posting this article has drawn me to comment, largely because of recent comments made by UK MP Hazel Blears regarding Political Blogs.

Mainstream media and political organisations fear the unregulated nature of blogging and will seek to redress the balance. Look at Australia plans for net censorship.

Our customers can clearly see the disdain and contempt in which providers such as “mainstream Fourth Estate” journalists hold them but they don’t have to put up with it any more.

Bloggers (and other citizen journalists) are increasingly being portrayed as “the negative other” by employed journalists … who have a long and not very pretty reputation of negatively describing other segments of society which threaten them (other races, women, ‘poor people’, ‘foreigners’ etc) and this is just the latest incarnation of a massive problem in the journalism profession … unreflective and unprofessional threatened behaviour.

Bloggers as a group have reached the stage of proficiency, know-what, know-why and know-how that they are in a position to compete for eyes and cash with employed journalists working for “mainstream” media.

This is intensely exciting and reassuring for someone like me, who aims to form and graduate journalists of all kinds for the future, but not the many lazy, call-centre-style journalists who seem to populate modern newsrooms of the present.

An individual reporter or feature writer may have gaps in their knowledge but can (hopefully, on a good day) rely on subs/a newsdesk to plug them before publication.

Also, while in many blogs the story can be told brilliantly despite errors in spelling and grammar, in many others, they really do get in the way, imho. I also think there is a blurring of the lines as blogging becomes so much more commercialised and large blogging companies pay aspiring ‘professionals’ a pittance and posts remain unchecked for troublesome mistakes.

An area where blogging by ‘amateurs’ has made a real impact on the profession of journalism is in arts criticism as journalists working in this field adapt to keep up with the times, I’ve just written about this for PG.

Isn’t there a huge problem with printing then checking after? If something is wrong (ie untrue) isn’t it too late to take back? Having a conversation is great, having one based on half truths or inaccuracies may not be so great, and isn’t it this that the ‘professionals’ are trying to avoid? That’s when they’re not cutting and pasting from the wiki of course.

All best.

With so many blogs out there, it is inevitable that there will be dross, that there will be factually incorrect pieces, strong opinions etc. But there’s also a great deal of information that has gone on to inform the popular press, as well as the other way round.

Look to how many newspapers (particuarly the ‘Sundays’) now contain pieces on blogs of note, look to blog material being used to inform television programmes (I think specifically of Belle du Jour), and also how the non-professional, in these days of camera phones and so on, is now contributing to the media in his own right. Many of the images of the London bombings used in the mainstream media were taken by amateurs.

As for writing for profit…I think a lot of bloggers would be damned lucky! Not as easy as it may sound, with so many people out there!

A subject that fascinates me…I’m off to have a nose around the rest of the pages here!