Nicole's Editorials

Blogs Won't Bring Death to Journalists

As I was searching through some media blogs, I came across David Berlind's titled "Did the death of journalism just take another step?". I couldn't help thinking to myself, "Oh great, more good news for my career!" As I read the article though, I couldn't help but disagree with Berlind's views.

Business 2.0, and offshoot of CNNmoney.com, has recently asked all of its journalists to create a blog. Berlind predicts death and doom to all journalists that fall into the "trap".

"To many of them, being asked or told to blog will be like hearing someone screaming above the foam 'Come on in, the water is fine!' It isn't until after the barrell they're in has been tossed over the rail into the Niagara Falls that they'll realize how not everyone survives the white water."

I can't say that I agree with his ideas tough. I think that blogging is a powerful tool that helps journalists interact with their readers. Comments and questions regarding columns and stories allow an actual conversation to take place. I find Howard Kurtz's blog on The Washington Post website to be quite intriguing--where else are you able to leave a comment for the writer?

Berlind states that he doesn't predict the death of journalism, just journalists. I couldn't disagree more. Blogging is allowing anyone and everyone to be a journalist. I think that as a blogger/journalist himself, Berlind would welcome the "real" journalists to the blogosphere.

posted by clevergirl @ 7:32 PM