Two non-journalists make some sweeping statements about how blogging has improved journalism.
From the Toronto Star commentary by David Eaves and Taylor Owen:
I do agree with this:
Blogging is not a substitute for journalism. If anything, this past decade shows that blogging and journalism are symbiotic – to the benefit of everyone.
But then they make a strange argument about whether books were ever a threat to journalism. I thought that non-fiction books were journalism, but may I'm really, really missing something.
This appears to be the heart of the commentary:
Traditionalists' concern with blogging is rooted in the fact that the average blog is of questionable quality. Ask anyone who has looked, and cringed, at a friend's blog.
But this conclusion is based on a flawed understanding of how people use the Internet. The Internet's most powerful property is its capacity to connect users quickly to exactly what they are looking for, including high-quality writing on any subject.
This accounts for the tremendous amount of traffic high-quality blogs receive and explains why these bloggers are print journalists' true competition. As technology expert Paul Graham argues: "Those in the print media who dismiss online writing because of its low average quality miss the point. No one reads the average blog."
Once this capability of the Internet is taken into account, the significance of blogging shifts. Imagine that only 5 per cent – or 75,000 – of daily posts are journalistic in content, and that only 1 per cent of these are of high quality. That still leaves 750 high-quality posts published every day.
Even by this conservative assessment, the blogo- sphere still yields a quantity of content that can challenge the world's best newspapers.
Jeepers, this is getting close to the infinite monkey theorem.
What do the authors mean by "journalistic in content"? If they mean original reportage, I can't think of one blog that has become a must-visit destination for me because they are consistently breaking newsworthy stories that I can't find in the mainstream media (Got suggestions, folks? Leave a URL).*
* Check out this Tyee story about B.C.'s Sean Holman, who runs Public Eye.
For the most part, current affairs blog find their inspiration in the content (and often, what they see as the errors) of the MSM. I'm not accusin'; I do that here. And when I go to visit blogs, it's because I like the perspective, voice and eye for content that the blogger has.
Frankly, commenting on someone else's work is easy and cheap to do -- which is why it comprises the vast majority of output for most bloggers. Original reportage, and especially investigative reportage, is very expensive and time-consuming to produce.
One thing the article misses in its discussion is this little factoid: I know of no mainstream Canadian journalist who has quit her or his job to go blogging and who made an equivalent living doing so (if someone does know of one, please tell me). Blogging is largely a hobby and/or a labour of love in this country. The news media, which produces the vast majority of journalism in Canada, is an industry. Name the other hobby that replaced a major industry.
In the U.S., where blogging is commercially further along, a few who have gained minor fame blogging have used that to springboard into mainstream gigs. But again, I can't think of anyone who has done so in Canada (again, if someone knows of one, etc., etc.) where they didn't have some type of writing background or journalistic training beforehand.*
* In a list of the top Canadian politics blogs, Doug Morrow of Democraticspace.com found last December that five of the top 10 were either mainstream media types or had some MSM connection. One other had some minor celebrity. Two of the blogs were collective efforts, and the other top two could be seen as grassroots.
Anyways, Eaves and Owen offer this thought:
As bloggers continue to gain tangible influence in public debates, our understanding of this phenomenon will mature.
And this past decade should serve as a good guide. Contrary to the predictions of both champions and skeptics, blogging has neither displaced nor debased the practice of journalism. If anything, it has made journalism more accurate, democratic and widely read.
Some questions those statements raise for me:
How much tangible influence do bloggers currently have over public debates in this country?
How has blogging made journalism more "accurate, democratic and widely read"?
There are numerous examples of partisan groups stacking unscientific online "polls", as one example. This is done in an effort to distort, not enhance accuracy. This goes doubly so if the groups are successful in stacking a poll and then claim this shows something about Canadian public opinion. That's factually wrong at best and an out-and-out lie at worst.
Informed, knowledgeable bloggers can play a useful role in fact-checking the news media. But in many instances, the criticism is rooted in partisanship, not a desire to see accuracy prevail. And that's another issue I have with blogs; they are an extension of what I see as a faith-versus-reality conflict that seems to dominate current public discourse.
Despite my criticisms of them, I like blogs (the third anniversary of this one is coming up in a few weeks). If someone feels they have something to say (and access to the Internet), it's a good thing they can have a public outlet for their thoughts and perhaps connect with other like-minded or interesting contrary-minded individuals along the way. If they catch an MSM reporter like myself screwing up, that's a good thing too. If they actually do some journalism, terrific! I'm not down with the MSM snobs who like to sneer that they get paid to write.
But while I welcome the addition of blogs, podcasts and other forms of online media and think they've had some effect, forgive me for being a bit skeptical as to just how transformative they've been.
Some previous blogging and journalism-related posts
Dec. 3, 2004 - Journalists, interactivity and blogs
Jan. 13, 2005 - My deep thoughts on blogs -- REVEALED!
Feb. 2, 2005 - Akin on journalism and blogging
March 21, 2005 - Why Dana Milbank prefers mainstream news
March 26, 2005 - Deep thoughts on blogging, by Tom Korski
April 12, 2005 - RRJ article on blogging and journos
May10, 2005 - Blogger, reform thyself
June 4, 2005 - A reflexive rebuttal to another stupid column about blogs
Sept. 23, 2005 - A blog posting about a blogging yapfest
Oct. 7, 2005 - Canuck bloggers not breaking many stories
Feb. 25, 2006 - Leah McLaren is quitting the blogosphere!
March 31, 2006 - Russell Smith on bloggers and blogging
June 10, 2006 - 'Bloggers, meet reporters. Reporters, meet bloggers'
Oct. 4, 2006 - Dinosaur media still trusted more than pyjamahedeen
June 25, 2007 - A riposte to the Web 2.0 true believers