Bloggers Vs. Journalists

Leena Rao recently wrote an article for TechCrunch describing some statistics about the current blogging world. She writes that 52% of all bloggers consider themselves journalists. At first, this seems like a strange claim. After all, when I think of blogging, I still think of it mostly as the online-journal type of blogging, and not the serious, critical forms that are becoming more and more common. Just look at this blog! We're seriously critical about the media stories we're discussing; obviously the concept of a serious blog isn't foreign.

But as I was saying, it seems a strange claim, but under further examination it makes sense. Bloggers are journalists. And not just because they report on events--anyone can do that. But if you look more closely at how the serious blog functions, more and more simliarities appear, especially in the conventions and routines of the two media.

The authors of the text Media/Society define conventions as the routines found in any particular job that have been repeated so much so that they simply become the way things are done. Newspapers (the print kind) have many conventions, especially when it comes to the area of news gathering. More often than not, journalists will congregate in places where newsworthy events are most likey to happen--court houses, press conferences, or even specific places like the White House. There, they obtain the daily stories that can be found in newspapers. This sort of congregation towards regular news sources is the most typical of conventions in print newspapers, and it is reflected by blogging journalists.

Bloggers gravitate towards news sources as well for their stories, just a different kind than print journalists. They gravitate towards other blogs. According to Rao's article, 91% of bloggers and 68% of online journalists say they use other blogs as a primary source of news. Meaning, they find their stories at other, reliable blogs on the web, much like print journalists find their stories at the same places from day to day.

They have practically the same news-gathering conventions!

So, yes, if you ask me, bloggers are journalists. They gather news like print journalists, and they often report similar stories, just with their own spin on it. One of the only big differences that I can see is that journalists are paid, and bloggers are not. But, that's just me. What do you think? Are bloggers journlaists? Or, are bloggers simply people with nothing better to do, ranting without merit or credibility?