Independent media producers, such as Bloggers, provide information and news to the public in a far more casual and interactive way compared to elite media corporations and institutions such as the Herald Sun Newspaper, or Newscorp Ltd.
Russell et. al. describes bloggers as “Do-it-yourself” journalists (2008, 70), and this is definitely a positive. Not only do they have to be motivated to investigate a story, thereby making their pieces interesting and passionate, but it also gives the blogger a chance to write the stories they want to write. The result is a lot of unique articles which are unrestricted by big business editors only interested in printing stories which will appeal to the mass-general public.
However, the benefits of having an editor is a more proffesional final product. Bloggers are not necessarily good writers, and perhaps dont always have a subjective view of what other people might find interesting to read. An editor is present to get the best out of the writer, whether this be correcting their work and improving it through literal editing, or whether taking care of the inspiration for articles and allowing the journalist to just write rather than do it all themselves, a luxury which bloggers do not have.
An example of such is http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/lets-keep-the-japanese-earthquake-in-perspective-20110316-1bwd3.html
While this blog post has found official coverage, it is in no way endorsed by The Age newspaper. The story is independently researched and manufactured, providing an interesting story with a perspective unique amongst the other coverage of the Japan earthquakes.
Furthermore, the comments section at the bottom of the post encourages interactivity with and by the general public. The collaborative effort (Russell et. al., 2008, 67) this allows means the new story can expand and benefit from the knowledgeable contributions of other bloggers, a definite benefit that traditional news media lacks. Other people can’t just ring up the newspaper journalist
As for the “merit based popularity” of blogs (Russell et. al., 2008, 67), this gives the general public much easier access to news which has been judged good and trustworthy, rather than just being force fed whatever traditional media sends their way, so not use it is place of old methods asks Russell et. al.? (2008, 70) . http://perezhilton.com/ provides celebrity news much quicker and more up to date than any newspaper or magazine is able to. The blog has won popularity on this merit, and the fact that it is usually reliable, and (again) can benefit from the contribution of others, it has definitely outstripped traditional media, being a far better source of news.
Athough elite media perhaps has the edge on bloggers due to its proffessionalism, you’d have to say that the speed with which blogs can distribute news, how quickly people can access that news, and the casual, interesting and independent news that blogs can deliver are a worthy trade-off for the fact they are a little more casual in their presentation.
Plus, if we stopped producing newspapers, it would clearly be much better for the environment.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Russell, A., Ito, M., Richmond, T. and Tuters, M. “Culture: Media Convergence and Networked Culture”, Networked Publics. Ed: Varnelis, K. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. (2008). 43-76
Week 4: Russell (et al.) compares elite media and institutions with bloggers and ponders the following question: “Do bloggers, with their editorial independence, collaborative structure and merit-based popularity more effectively inform the public?” (Reader, page 136). Do you agree? Use examples to illustrate your point of view.
jarrydbendall 