Blogging vs. Mainstream Media

Once upon a time there was the press. And only those who could afford the printing or broadcasting costs could ever hope to play the game. Then came the internet, a world within our own, where the old adage that nothing is free no longer applies. Anyone with even the slowest computer and a dial-up connection can now become a member of the media. With thousands of free blogging sites on the internet, the number of these citizen journalists is ever growing. Technorati, a website which tracks blogs online, reports that there are over 55 million blogs in the World Wide Web. And that number is growing at a rate of approximately 100,000 new blogs per day, that’s more than one new blog per second.

Blogging, and the mass-communication capabilities that the internet offers, have become to implanted in contemporary culture that last year Time magazine named “You”—as in those of us using the internet to communicate information—as its person of the year.

So why is blogging so popular these days? Well for one thing, blogging is instant, the moment it is posted it is available for consumption. Also, blogs are usually personal and so the blogger is not hindered by a publications rules, and are not bent by the will of advertisers.

The blog has also rocked the mainstream media. When only major media companies controlled the press, they monopolized the message. Now, with personal blogs, the mainstream media is no longer monolithic. Blogs create a mechanism to publicly criticize the media within this new medium. Sites like Fark and Graphictruth are full of examples media criticism.

But all may not be so bright in the blogosphere. Blogs are run by people who don’t necessarily hold to the same ethics and standards that most true journalists follow. And with 55 million of them, a fair chunk are likely to be downright stupid. Paul McLeary, in the Columbia Journalism Review, mentioned an example when a picture of John Kerry sitting alone at a table while visiting Iraq surfaced. Many conservative blogs posted that Kerry was being snubbed by the troops. “A host of liberal blogs shot back,” McLeary writes, “questioning things like the time stamp on the digital image and the flags visible in the background, all in an effort to prove that the photo wasn't what it was said to be.” As it turns out, Kerry sat there for an interview he was having with two journalists who were left out of the shot. Bloggers often allow their emotions to get in the way, and will often write without any real thought or research.

The BBC reported that analysts at a firm called Gartner, have predicted that blogs will peak this year based on information provided by Technorati that showed that only 55% of all blogs were still active—updated at least once every three months. Gartner claims that most of the people who would ever start a blog have already started one. Of course this is just a prediction, and reflects only the people who are writing blogs and in no way reflect any shift in readership. Perhaps some day the blog will become as important as the mainstream press, with an elite consisting of the interested and willing.

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Published:
Mar 9 2007 / 7:29 AM
Author:
Stefan Schussler
Category:
Media
Tags:
blogging, ethics, internet, journalism, media, news, technology
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