Print This Post Print This Post

Nov

9

The Next Generation: USF student SPJ members explore whether bloggers=journalists


From Wendy Withers’ report of the event on Sticks of Fire (out of Tampa, FL):

There were about 25-30 people in attendance at any given time, made up mostly of USF’s Society of Professional Journalists members, USF mass communications staff, and mass comm students trying to get extra credit in other classes.

…

The question of whether or not bloggers are journalists was answered right off the bat. The consensus between the panel members was this: bloggers are journalists when they’re reporting news. Not all bloggers are committing journalism all the time, even if they’re journalists in real life. Blogs come down to conversation; sometimes the conversation strays from reporting.

Withers goes into depth with an account of the back and forth on the topic. It’s a very interesting read.

These gatherings are what will determine the next generation of how we get our news, how we find news, how we define news, how we offer up news.

Again, any entity in the news gathering, dissemination or consumption sector that isn’t paying attention to what these folks think – which isn’t always the same thing – has his or her head in the sand.

Bookmark and Share

By Jill Miller Zimon at 1:02 pm November 9th, 2007 in Blogging, Media, Wide Open 

Comments

8 Responses to “The Next Generation: USF student SPJ members explore whether bloggers=journalists”

  1. 1 Jeff Hess on November 9th, 2007 1:16 pm

    Shalom Jill,

    I have to disagree with the students. We’re all committing journalism all the time.

    Journalism is the acting of journaling; reporting on our thoughts, our impressions, our observations and our interactions with others; even when we’re reporting to an audience of one.

    That journalism has become exclusively connected to news reporting is unfortunate. One of the things that bloggers are doing is taking back Journalism from the steel-and-glass tower types who call themselves publishers and editors and who believe that they are gatekeepers.

    That is plainly no longer the case and those who erroneously cling to this belief need to get over themselves.

    B’shalom,

    Jeff

  2. 2 MY COMMENTS… on November 9th, 2007 1:18 pm

    [...] USF student SPJ members explore whether bloggers=journalists 0845 For Wide Open 2.0 digg_url=”http://havecoffeewillwrite.com/?p=5420″; digg_skin = [...]

  3. 3 Wendy Withers on November 9th, 2007 4:08 pm

    Jeff,

    Actually, it was a panel of “experts” who made the statement. They were Lucas Grindley of the Sarasota HeraldTribune, Adrian Uribarri of the Society of Professional Journalists, and Gil Thelen, a former editor and publisher at various newspapers (most recently The Tampa Tribune). In other words, ivory tower types.

  4. 4 John Ettorre on November 9th, 2007 4:23 pm

    In other words, people who have some expertise and who know what they’re talking about. Wendy, congratulations on your Orwellian classification system. Anyone who is a professional is by definition an ignorant ivory tower type. Lovely. Oddly, it seems at war with much of your writing (at least the part I sampled online a moment ago), which sounds quite intelligent.

  5. 5 Wendy Withers on November 10th, 2007 11:08 am

    John,

    I was just adding on to what Jeff was saying in the first comment and clarifying that it wasn’t the students who were commenting on whether or not bloggers are journalists, it was a panel of professionals who Jeff thinks needs to get over themselves.

    I almost added a paragraph about how the “gatekeepers” as Jeff called them actually have checks and balances in place to make sure they give their readers factual information while bloggers and people who own their own Web sites can post all sorts of mistakes and outright wrong information with no real consequences. (While, journalists who print factual errors and mistakes will eventually lose their jobs and get a bad rep.)

    I think bloggers and internet readers are a fantastic check on news organizations; they’re very vocal about found mistakes, omissions, and every once in a while, a blogger will scoop a newspaper and make the paper rethink the way they’re doing things in the newsroom. I also think there are tons of bloggers out there who write at a level as high or higher than most journalists; those bloggers are also starting to get jobs at papers. We have a chance for a very bright future, if everyone gets on board. Unfortunately, I’ve witnessed a snobbishness against readers by some of the journalists I’ve worked with; they’re going to be left behind. Readers don’t appreciate the “I’m a journalist, so I’m smarter, more informed, and more suited to giving you information than you are” attitude any more, if they ever did. The super successful columnists and journalists I’ve seen have the approach that they need to please and inform their readers. They also usually have blogs aimed at their ideal audience with posts that expand upon their work.

  6. 6 Jill Miller Zimon on November 10th, 2007 11:16 am

    Wendy – thanks very much for checking in and taking the time to write the comment above. I really appreciated you writing up the get together. If students are talking about these issues, we can expect that they’re going to bring them into the workplace and career search as well. Everyone has to think about that.

  7. 7 John Ettorre on November 10th, 2007 1:07 pm

    Well said, Wendy, and thanks for the clarification.

  8. 8 Jill Miller Zimon on November 15th, 2007 10:56 pm

    Jeff – I like the distinction you make. Thanks.

Leave a Reply




"));