Steve Rubel points to an article written by Scot Petersen, News Editor at eWEEK on blogging and journalism.
I wish there were plants as hardy as this old chestnut. If there were, gardening would be a far simpler pursuit.
My views on this “conundrum” surrounding blogs and journalism are well documented on this blog, but indulge me while I revisit the topic one more time.
I personally don’t believe that blogs are a replacement for journalism. I’m wary of claims that there is widespread disenchantment with mainstream journalism. There is some, I’ll grant you that. But I think that the people with strongest feelings against journalism are the same people who have a distinct agenda that doesn’t mirror that of the editorial writers.
That’s all good right and true. Each to their own. But it doesn’t add up to the end of journalism as we know it.
Let’s look at Public Relations by way of illustration.
On the top right hand side of this weblog there are over thirty PR-related weblogs.
Each of these weblogs offer a slightly different take on Public Relations. Each includes insights into the personal views of its author and each is an amatuer effort at publishing PR-related links and content.
Are the PR blogs good?
Absolutely, I read every single one of them.
Do they remove the need for O’Dwyers or PR Week?
Nope.
Those magazines are professional publishers, with wide resources and huge readerships that do a great job covering the PR business at large. If you want to keep up to date on everything that’s happening in the business, you should be reading them.
The PR blogs bring additional, and very valuable, insights into the profession. They act as online repositories of information, views and links to PR-related content.
But they don’t replace the professionals, they supplement them.
There are also a growing number of “professional blogs” such as MarketingVox which have a team of people bringing together loads of marketing content and opinions in a weblog format. But I don’t consider these sites as blogs, they are online marketing news sites. Their competition is AdWeek etc. and they provide a valuable online alternative.
But for me personally, a blog is about individuals writing and linking information that is of interest to them and their readers.
When you begin to put procedures, house style and agreed publishing practices in place, which you need to do in a collaborative publishing process, then you are moving down the road to journalism.
There are millions of blogs. Some will survive, many will die and many new ones will emerge. They present alternative views and content which is very valuable. But although I read them, I still read my magazines, my newspapers and listen to the radio.
We always rush to the new shiny object in the full expectation that it will replace what went before, but history teaches us that such dramatic shifts are rare. Usually these new shiny objects represent a subtle shift, a supplemental change.
If journalism takes some inspiration from weblogs then that is a great development for everyone. Many journalists are already thinking along these lines. Look at Dan Gillmor’s “Making the News” or how EWEEK and Infoworld are using blogs to supplement traditional journalism.
My one word of advice is that we should leave the baby where it is and remove the water using traditional methods!
Footnote:
Jon Udell on High Tech PR in the age of blogs and how blogs impact his day job.
Chad Dickerson on how Infoworld are using blogs.
Murphy's Law 