Weblogs are a fairly new phenomenon, and their adaptation into the journalism is even more recent. Since the technology has only recently found popularity, its application into journalism is bound to be faced with problems. The most controversial problem is whether or not weblogs should remain unedited, as if they do the information is perhaps not as credible, but if they don’t, the spontaneity, and one of blogging’s greatest appeals is lost. On top of that, weblogs also face other disadvantages. Due to the nature of blogs, it’s possible that some of the content may offend readers. Furthermore, there’s also the possibility that reports may become too personal, over analysed or feature meaningless observations.
Weblogs are a fairly spontaneous medium, and as a result of that, content of news reports in blogs may offend some readers. This is one of the biggest problems the journalism industry faces when using weblogs as a method of reporting the news. For example, in a film review in The New Republic magazine, blogger Gregg Easterbrook called two Hollywood executives “Jewish Executives� who “worship money above all else�. This comment was viewed by many readers as anti-semitic and the magazine was inundated with complaints. (Heyboer, 2003)
Another problem that weblogs face when used in journalism, is that due to the relative ease associated with updating, and the lack of restrictions associated with doing so, the content of the reports can suffer. For example, weblogs can become too personal and report more the effect of events on the author, rather than the actual events themselves. For example, at this year’s democratic convention in the US, thirty bloggers were given access to the convention as members of the press. Jeralyn Merritt, who runs the blog, ‘TalkLeft’ wrote, "We're here! It's amazing. Beyond amazing.", while ‘Centrist Coalition’ stated that "Bill Clinton looks really small from the upper tiers of the FleetCenter�. (Halloran, 2004) These weblogs obviously offer little journalistic integrity to the reader and don’t offer a very effective report of the news.
Weblog reporters from the same convention also offered many meaningless comments, such as "OK. So I'm a political blogger. I'm supposed to write about the speech. But what is there to say? Clinton. OK? The big dog barked. You saw it. There just isn't anything left to say." from Dave Johnson of the ‘Seeing the Forest Blog’. If journalist were to fill their weblogs with similar comments, it would be difficult to find accurate and useful reporting through weblogs, as readers would have to sift through the meaningless and over personalised reports.
While the issue of whether or not to edit is a major problem with weblogs in journalism, there are other problems with this new medium. The spontaneous content that appears in weblogs may offend some readers. Furthermore, comments from journalists turned bloggers can sometimes be too personal, or just plain meaningless to the reader, making finding accurate news reports difficult. While there are obvious problems, weblogs also have some advantages over other news sources.
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.
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Matthew Prentice 22:25, 28 Oct 2004 (EST)
