Blogging

Thank God blogs are "more precisely described as 'feedback channels'" rather than alternatives to mainstream media. I am majoring in communication with a journalism concentration and am not as up to date on the internet media phenomenon as I should be. I'm kind of old-fashioned when it comes to "new media," in that I'd rather just work for print journalism, going out writing stories and not have to deal with all the new ways of getting news out via blogs, Web sites, etc. Unfortunately I definitely need to.

Citizen journalism is great, but I definitely agree it is more feedback than anything else, especially since bloggers don't have to deal with things like censorship and repression, there is still a place for legit journalists to create and post information online in the typical article format with all the facts.

I slightly disagree however with the statement that newspapers and radio stations have failed to integrate open, interactive messages from their constituencies. Most radio stations and newspapers have online sites where readers are invited to post comments, links, etc. While this is usually completed one-sided I think that newspapers and radio stations have attempted to facilitate messages from their readers, bloggers just take it one step further.

While I am torn over the issues with blogs and internet media and how they relate to journalism, I definitely do love blogs. I constantly find myself checking up on Perezhilton.com, fmylife and other funny blog sites where blog entries are "hastily written personal musings, sculptured around a link or event."