There are distinct differences between weblogs used in the journalism industry and weblogs in their traditional form, as an online diary. While all news blogs are not necessarily edited, it is unlikely that an online diary would be. Also, such online diaries would most likely contain deeply personal information, and a lot of content based on opinion rather than fact, while blogs by journalist are quite the opposite, avoiding the personal content and reporting primarily facts. It is difficult to differentiate between the two though, as same bloggers may report facts in their online diary, and some journalists do report on personal experiences in their weblogs.
Many blogs by journalists are edited, but that does not necessarily mean that an unedited blog is an online diary. Daniel Weintraub’s weblog for The Sacramento Bee was a more popular source for news before it began being edited by the paper. Furthermore, some popular blogs in the journalism industry are currently unedited, such as ‘Back to Iraq’ and Chicago Tribune columnist Eric Zorn’s popular blog which is only edited for grammar, punctuation and spelling errors. Typically, most online diaries are unedited, but in the journalism industry, most weblogs are edited, but there are exceptions.
Online diaries are usually created by the author as a way of airing an opinion, discussing grievances or providing a form of social interaction. As a result, the content of such online diaries are usually very personal and are based solely on opinion, rather than fact. The opposite is usually true of weblogs written by journalists, as their job is to report the facts. Consequentially, personal opinions experiences are usually left out of such weblogs. There are exceptions, however, as some weblogs by journalists, such as those that wrote about this year’s democratic convention in the US, are based solely on personal experience. Furthermore, many online diaries report facts, making it difficult to distinguish between the two.
When news blogs are compared to the traditional style of blogging (online diaries), there are distinct differences. Weblogs by journalists are often edited to remove bias, mistakes and offensive content whereas online diaries often contain these things. Online diaries usually draw their content from the personal experiences of the author, and report on their own opinions. Conversely, weblogs in the journalism industry usually report facts and remove opinion from the content.
Bray, Hiawatha. (2003) "Conflict on Iraq Gives Rise to Journalists' Online Diaries" Knight Ridder Tribune Business News, Mar 24, 2003. pg. 1
Halloran, Liz. (2004) "Web diarists at political convention fall short of fresh, irreverent analysis" Knight Ridder Tribune Business News, Jul 29, 2004. pg. 1.
Heyboer, Kelly. (2003) “Bloggin’ in the Newsroom,� American Journalism Review, Vol.25, Iss. 8; Dec., p. 10.
Online. http://iraqconflict.org/ Accessed on October 28, 2004.
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Matthew Prentice 22:36, 28 Oct 2004 (EST)
