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.

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.

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