Anyone Can Blog; Not All Are Journalists

Around this time last year, New York University professor Jay Rosen declared the "bloggers vs. journalists" debate closed. He cited New York Times writer John Schwartz' own admission that "for vivid reporting from the enormous zone of tsunami disaster, it was hard to beat the blogs." The question of whether bloggers were journalists was, to some extent, settled. Rosen's simple New York Times' J.R. Pessimist, they protect their identities because of their associations. J.R. Pessimist told Murdok he/she was tied to a well-known Internet company and therefore could not couple his/her real name with his/her controversial ideas. But based on the over-your-head nature of Pessimist's writing, a reader may be inclined to believe this blogger knows the subject matter. Knowledge of subject matter is another key contention. While the traditional researcher will balk at blogging because it is unclear who is writing and why they are credible, others will note that many of the most successful and highly visited blogs are run by experts in a field about which they are writing. Unlike many beat reporters, who are assigned a story and must learn the material shortly before educating the public, bloggers are often intimately acquainted with the topic already. And if they are not, this is one area where the blogosphere will hold bloggers accountable. Like is done, they may not be redefining what journalism is