Bloggig vs journalism

The profession of journalism does not encompass blogging

The advance of communication technologies during the last decade has led to a new mediasphere dimension, characterized by interactive technologies which transformed news’ production and consumption. This “interactive phase of modernity” (Gulvady, 2009) allowed blogging to gain relevance as news’ source among the public. Mainly after September 11, blogs have been showing an increasing tendency to comment on news, criticize the media and to focus on political issues (Seipp, 2002). Several bloggers and media companies have clearly defended that time has blurred the line between journalism and blogging to an extent (Wilhelm, 2010) whilst other studies have clearly shown that bloggers should not be considered journalists (O’Dell, 2010). This is a topic that has been frequently debated by the media sphere and society in general. The main aim of this essay is to prove that the profession of journalism does not encompass blogging. The arguments in favor of blogging and journalism similarities will be considered and counterarguments will be provided to demonstrate that blogging is not a journalistic activity.

It has been argued that blogging provides perspective along with the facts (Wilhelm, 2010). This kind of information, so this argument goes, is significantly more useful than the “packaged information” (ibidem) offered by journalists. Wilhelm (2010) goes so far as to suggest that ordinary journalism is overrated and blogging is the future of information. However, National Union of Journalists’ Code of Conduct (2007) establishes that a journalist is expected to differentiate between facts and opinions. In fact, journalism activity lies on gather accurate facts, which should be treated impartially, leaving no space for opinion. Moreover, a journalist is supposed to detach from the content of the story in order to have be a neutral and objective source. (O’Dell, 2010)

Bryant (2010), Managing Editor at The