Advertising & Blogs

While many well-written blogs still have no ads on their sites, some bloggers have been able to generate income from their writing. Dooce is a blog written by Heather B. Armstrong, a web developer-turned-stay-at-home-mom in Utah. The blog features text ads by Google and a single graphic ad that rotates between different advertisers like Verizon, Wal-Mart and the state of Maryland.

Closer inspection reveals that the graphic ads were placed by an organization called Federated Media. I think this is the company that Dr. Borrell talked about in class. Click through to FM's site and you can browse through a whole stable of blogs (including Digg and Boing Boing) on all kinds of topics, along with brief pitches about their online popularity.

Really good writing and humor seem to be two of the keys to attracting readers - and then advertisers - to a personal blog, but even with these assets it's not easy. Bloggie winner Tokyo Girl Down Under and No Impact Man (who has book and movie deals) sport no ads on their popular sites.

Blogs that are cooperatively written by a group tend to have a lot more ads, which I think is directly tied to their ability to generate a lot of quality content around a particular interest or lifestyle. Treehugger is an informational blog about environmental sustainability that was started by an individual, but has added contributors (and advertising) as it has grown in popularity. Or has it grown in popularity as it has added contributors (and advertising)?

A Bit O' This, A Bit O' That

The FCC is holding its fourth public hearing on media ownership rules today in Tamp, FL. Click here for a live audio feed.

The 100th journalist has died covering the Iraq War. More journalists have been killed in action covering Iraq than in Vietnam, the first Iraq war, Afghanistan, Kosovo and Somalia -- combined, according to this article in Broadcasting & Cable.

Newspaper circulation numbers are down again, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations' spring numbers. A report released today showed steep losses and minimal gains for the fifth reporting period in a row. Read all about it at Editor & Publisher.

I Used To Be a Human; Now I'm Just a Blogger

Fourteen car loads and one 17-foot moving truck later I was struggling to recall what was so bad about living next door to a crack dealer, anyway.

When the futon got stuck halfway up the stairs to the third floor of the new place and my boyfriend started dismantling the banister I had a change of heart. This - this - is the best apartment ever and once that futon gets settled it is never coming back down.

Never.

Anyone who's moved knows there is a wormhole in the universe between there and here where chaos reigns and it's all you can do to hang onto your toothbrush and the cat in the midst of the swirling vortex of packing boxes and bubble wrap [NB. bubble wrap stops being fun after car load #7]. Space and time cease normal operation; random objects are mysteriously lost into the void. You are utterly removed from the day-to-day goings-on of ordinary earthlings. There are more important things to attend to. Dammit Jim, we're Moving!

An early casualty of the mission is the mass media. Because even if you could find the ________, there's no time to ________ it. I consider myself a fairly conscious consumer of the media, so I was interested to see how I fared for the week or two that the plug was pulled. No TV, no newspaper, no Sirius - no problem, I thought. It wasn't until later that I realized my folly.

In all the haphazard stumblings of the move - forgetting until the last minute to have my mail forwarded, the misplaced power drill that may never be seen again - there was one objective that I carried out with all the care and determination due a life support system: maintain internet connection. It could be no accident.

From the time my boyfriend pried the mouse out of my hand at midnight on the night before the move to the time the cable guy arrived at 2 p.m. the next day (God only knows where the dishes were but I had the desk and computer set up and waiting), I had gone exactly 14 hours without the internet. Not even a full day.

As I waited anxiously for him to perform the umbilical operation that would reconnect me to mission control (Kshh! Houston, we need a new password for this account. Kshh! Over.), I understood: not blood, but bytes course through my veins; not veins, but fiber-optic cables criss-cross my body. My brain is a CPU. I am jb6458.

In the News: Blogger Released from Prison

Here's an excerpt from a piece in the San Francisco Chronicle about blogger Josh Wolf's release from a record-setting prison term:

Josh Wolf, the blogger whose record 7 1/2 months in federal prison stirred debate about who qualifies as a journalist and what legal protections they should receive, was freed today after releasing video footage sought by prosecutors about an anarchist protest.

Wolf, 24, held in contempt by a federal judge last August for defying a grand jury subpoena, walked out of the Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin at mid-afternoon after his lawyers and federal prosecutors reached a compromise, with the help of a federal magistrate.

Wolf posted the uncut video on his Web site, gave prosecutors a copy and denied under oath that he knew anything about violent incidents at the July 2005 protest. In return, his lawyers said, prosecutors agreed not to summon him before the grand jury or ask him to identify any of the protesters shown on his video.

Prosecutors' withdrawal of their demand for his testimony was the key to the deal, Wolf told reporters outside the prison gate.

"Journalists absolutely have to remain independent of law enforcement," he said. "Otherwise, people will never trust journalists."

Asked about his imprisonment -- the longest-ever for a U.S. journalist for withholding information -- Wolf said, "Absolutely, this was worth it. I would do it again if I had to." He also said his case showed the need for a federal "shield law" that would protect journalists, including bloggers, from having to disclose confidential sources or unpublished material.

California and most other states have shield laws, but they do not apply to proceedings in federal court.

It's interesting to note the various ways in which news reports label Wolf. Sometimes he's a 'journalist'; sometimes a 'blogger'. I saw him referred to as an 'independent journalist,' a 'freelance journalist,' a 'video blogger' and even an 'anarchist journalist'!

And FYI, PA does have a shield law. The Pennsylvania Newspaper Association explains:

Pennsylvania Shield Law (42 Pa.C.S.A. §5942)

When dealing with lawsuits that arise out of Pennsylvania law (lawsuits based upon violations of Pennsylvania law, including libel lawsuits taking place in federal courts), reporters are protected by what is often referred to as the Pennsylvania Shield Law. This law states:

No person engaged in, connected with, or employed by any newspaper of general circulation or any press association or any radio or television station, or any magazine of general circulation, for the purpose of gathering, procuring, compiling, editing or publishing news, shall be required to disclose the source of any information procured or obtained by such person, in any legal proceeding, trial or investigation before any government unit. Note: This statute also applies to radio and television stations as long as they maintain and keep recordings or transcripts of the actual broadcast or telecast available for inspection.

This law provides journalists with an absolute privilege against the compelled disclosure of confidential sources of information, be it from law enforcement agencies or private citizens. The Shield Law has been interpreted by the courts to include not only the names of reporters' informants, but also provides protection to documents, unpublished materials, inanimate objects, and all sources of information obtained by reporters. Therefore, in a case dealing with a violation of Pennsylvania law, reporters cannot be required to produce the names or identities of their informants, documents obtained by their informants (such as invoices or letters), or other sources of information, even if they are subpoenaed to do so.

You can read about exceptions to this law (particularly in libel cases) at their site. It doesn't appear that this law would cover bloggers not affiliated with a traditional news organization, but I don't know if that's been tested in court yet.

You can read the statement Wolf made on his release and watch the footage in question at his web site. He makes an appearance in Part II of Frontline's series, "News War."

Frontline's "News War"

Since the previous post has dropped off the page here, I wanted to remind you that the excellent series, "News War: A Four Part Investigation Into the Future of News," is still available for online viewing. Produced by PBS's Frontline, the series is divided into four parts:

• Parts I & II - Secrets, Sources & Spin
• Part III - What's Happening to the News
• Part IV - Stories from a Small Planet

I've watched Parts I & II so far. They deal mainly with the tension between the press and the government. What does the public have the right to know? When does the government have the right to secrecy? Why do journalists insist on the right to keep their sources confidential? What defenses do journalists have from government prosecution?

This series is a great way to see Communication Law in action.

A Tale of Two e-Newletters

#1: DrWeil.com

This newsletter and the site it comes from definitely have commercial goals (the profits of drweil.com's product sales go to fund his non-profit organization, which trains doctors in integrative medicine). There are several ads included in the newsletter. This means the ad-to-content ratio is pretty high, since this is a short, daily email. Each newsletter contains one or two teasers for an article, and one Q & A (actually just the question, as a link). It's so short I can see the whole thing on my email inbox page. Which is probably the reason that I don't unsubscribe - because I can scan it in seconds & make an instant decision on whether to click through or dump it.

#2: Nat Decants

I discovered Natalie MacLean's website through her award-winning book about wine, "Red, White, and Drunk All Over: A Wine-Soaked Journey From Grape to Glass." I really enjoyed her book, so it's a shame that her newsletters don't work very well. The main problems are that they are made up of massive blocks of text, and the text goes on and on. The newsletter would benefit from making better use of HTML capabilities by laying out text on the page in chunks and subdividing articles. Although the newsletter only comes once a fornight, I've yet to read one through. I tried once, but gave up 15 min. later with the end still not in sight.

New Study Challenges Conventional Web Wisdom

A new survey by the Poynter Institute found that web news readers have a greater attention span than print readers, according to a Reuters report.

"The EyeTrack07 survey by the Poynter Institute, a Florida-based journalism school, found online readers read 77 percent of what they chose to read while broadsheet newspaper readers read an average of 62 percent, and tabloid readers about 57 percent.

Sara Quinn, director of the Poynter EyeTrack07 project, said this was the first large public study internationally to compare the differences between how people read the news online and in newspapers.

She said they were surprised to find that such a large percentage of story text was read online as this exploded the myth that Web readers had a shorter attention span."

Some traditional notions were reinforced: readers were more attracted to and retained more information from stories presented in alternative formats like Q & A, lists, short sidebars, and timelines.

Read the full article here.

Media Ownership Update

You may have heard that the FCC is holding a series of public hearings on the issue of media ownership, but you may not know exactly what's at stake.

The activist website StopBigMedia explains a new FCC proposal to further relax media ownership rules, highlighting two particular protections that are on the block:

The rule on "newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership," which prevents companies from owning a television or radio station and the major daily newspaper in the same area.

The local ownership caps that limit a company from owning more than one television station in most markets. (They can own two in larger markets as long as there are at least eight other competitors.)

At least on the surface, it would seem that protecting localism and diversity in the media (what's left of them, anyway) should be a high priority for the good of local communities. However, a recent AP article challenges that assumption. "Who Cares About Ownership Rules?" argues that in this time of rapidly changing technology, the media landscape is being transformed in ways that mean the ownership debate over traditional platforms is already yesterday's news. The internet is the disputed territory now, and net neutrality the burning issue.

Meanwhile, the FCC's public hearings continue. About 300 people turned out for its third hearing, which was held in February in Harrisburg, PA. Four companies control 79% of the local news in that market. Here's an excerpt from a Feb. 24th Patriot-News (owned by New Jersey-based Advance Publications) article about the meeting:

The morning public-comment portion of the hearing was dominated by an organized effort by the Pennsylvania Association of Broadcasters. More than 50 television reporters and anchors and their stations' nonprofit organization partners lined up in front of the microphones to talk about the good work they do.

Richard Wyckoff, the president of PAB, said the testimony at the first two hearings were an unbalanced look at the industry.

"We wanted to make sure the record was complete, that our story be put out there," Wyckoff said.

Whether that was an effective strategy remains to be seen.

"I'm happy they invited so many of their folks out, it's a perspective that's valuable, but it's a small part of the issues we need to discuss," Commissioner Michael J. Copps said during a break. "What we've heard is one dimension."

Ownership rules were the intended topic of the day, but the broadcaster turnout was a continuing theme.

Screen writer Elizabeth Hainstock, a former broadcaster and publisher of Central PA magazine, called the testimony "self-serving and embarrassing. They're just doing their jobs."

The FCC is required by Congress to reconsider all its rules every few years. The next hearing is scheduled for April 30 in Tampa, Fla.

I tried to find out how to contact the FCC, but their server was down. You can visit the FCC's website for more information.

FCC chairman Kevin Martin.

Amazon.com Review

It's hard to deny the appeal of Amazon.com's highly personalized approach to e-commerce.

When you pull up their homepage, they greet you by name, as if you were an old friend. They remember what you've bought recently, and are ready with suggestions for similar items. What's this? A new vegetarian Italian low-fat seasonal cookbook? Don't mind if I do. There's even a tab for a whole page dedicated to your likes and dislikes. Oh, really - you shouldn't have!

And it doesn't stop there. Amazon automatically shows you "Listmania" and "So You'd Like to..." lists and guides that are related to the item you're looking at. Click on The Non Designer's Design Book and you're presented with lists of design books and guides to learning design that were created by other customers. Some of those customers may be professional designers. Every item can be rated and reviewed by customers, and you can link to your favorite customers so that you can read all their reviews, lists and guides. It's like a big happy family of people buying stuff.

You might think that you couldn't possibly get into too much trouble at Amazon's site - i mean, how much can you buy in one sitting without budgetary alarm bells going off? But Amazon has some convenient ways around your prudish binge-shopping aversion. Your personal Shopping List is a place to store all those items you can't buy today, but don't want to forget about either. So Six Feet Under Season Five will be right there waiting for you whenever you decide to stop by again.

And when that list hits 50, 100, or some other completely unmanageable number of items? Two words, baby: Wish List. Now you can tell the whole world exactly what you want for Christmas - Grandma's day-of-the-week underpants be damned!

Checkout is a breeze. Ah yes, they know where you live and how you'd like to pay. Put it on my Amazon VISA, naturally. And look at that. Amazon tells you exactly how much money you've saved. Who pays retail anymore, anyway?

Impatient much? Those with control issues can track their packages from their account page. Or distract yourself by browsing the latest personalized e-newsletter Amazon sent you. It's filled with things they just know you'll love. Actually, who couldn't use another [indie rock album/gripping new memoir/subscription to a magazine I don't have time to read]? I'll take it!

Fact is, if you shop there, Amazon probably knows you better than your mother, your lover, or your parish priest. Which would be chilling if it didn't come with free shipping.

Tune Out & Drop In

Like any junkie, I had my drug of choice. Oh, they were all a good time, but if you really wanted to hypnotize me for hours on end, it was HGTV that could be counted on to turn me into a square-eyed zombie.

And like many addicts, the seeds of my problem were sown early on. I'm part of a whole generation of kids for whom the TV really did function as a kind of babysitter. In a society where two (over)working parents are the norm, where family units are often isolated even from others in their own neighborhood, and where the world outside the front door is seen as vaguely dangerous, it is oh so easy to plunk the kids down in front of the TV. Just for a while.

But what of the long term effects?

Kill the Babysitter!

Some of you may remember the Cable Guy - not Larry the Cable Guy, of Blue Collar Comedy fame - the 1996 movie starring Jim Carrey. I searched high and low on the web for a video clip of the climax of that film (alas, no luck), where Carrey's character tries to destroy a broadcast satellite because of the toll tv had taken on his life.

A couple of years ago I, too, was feeling fed up with TV. I decided that it had a lot to answer for:

• leads to rampant time suckage
• distorts our sense of reality
• causes us to miss out on real life
• dulls critical thinking
• presents warped values as the norm
  
• promotes consumer culture
• encourages disengagement with real issues
• In sum, it keeps us politically passive & economically active

It was time to "kill the babysitter!"

Rehab

So, I stopped watching TV. Not all at once, mind you. The shock would have been too great. But gradually, until I was down to three shows (Lost, the Amazing Race, Independent Lens), then two, then none.

It was very quiet.

Soon I started filling up my time with other things. I read more. I went hiking. I started gardening and learning to cook. I went to concerts and ball games and hung out more with my friends. I listened to NPR and ended up more informed about current events than I ever had been with access to 24 hour cable news networks.

My life got a lot more interesting.

TV Turnoff Week: April 23 -29

These days, I watch TV selectively. I don't think that TV is inherently evil, I just try to sort the wheat from the piles & piles of chaff. If I want to watch a series, I rent it on DVD (no commercials!). Once in a while - if I'm not busy with my real life - I'll watch a favorite show, like "Good Eats" on the Food Network. I'm making conscious choices about how to spend my time and what to expose my mind to.

National TV Turnoff Week is one month away. If you can't imagine how you'd fill your time without the tube, consider detoxing for just one week, and discover what 'reality' means when it's not being used ironically.

A+ Podcasts for Com Majors

Here in the Communication department we are all in the business of words. Whether we're hoping to get our ideas out via print, online or broadcast media, the English language is our stock and trade. We all need to learn to use words accurately, efficiently and powerfully.

If you're like me, learning vocabulary, proper spelling and grammar is about as fun as doing your tax return, but without the refund to look forward to at the end!

I checked out some educational podcasts that focus on language skills in the hopes that someone out there was taking the sting out of 'stertorous'.

Revenge of the Word Nerds

"The Word Nerds: A Podcast About Language" is produced by three language teachers and features themed shows that last around 30-40 mins. Here's an excerpt from their website.

The Word Nerds is a podcast about language and language change. It has been published on the Internet since March 21, 2005. Originally published every week, it now appears once every two to three weeks.

Three language teachers, Dave Shepherd, Howard Shepherd, and Howard Chang, talk about nearly any topic you could imagine having to do with language. We are all native speakers of American English. Dave is a high-school German teacher, Howard S. teaches high-school English, and Howard C. teaches high-school Latin.

I chose the episode called "Equivocation and Discourse" because I had no idea what equivocation was. The episode gets off to a slow start, but the hosts get into the swing of things in a few minutes. Here is a breakdown of the episode from iTunes:

• Howard Shepherd talks about his favorite summer reading book--Special Topics in Calamity Physics, a first novel by his former student Marisha Pessl. (2:47)
• Reasons for equivocating (4:37)
• Music bumper from "Ockham's Shaving Kit," by George Hrab (14:46)
• Verbal and lingual ways of equivocating (15:27)
• Song: "Maybe I'll Wait," by Robin Welty (21:36)
• Rude word of the week: "weasel" (25:16)
• Music bumper from "Telepop" by The Jerrys (28:57)
• Paralingual and nonvocal equivocation (29:36)
• Music courtesy of The Podsafe Music Network and IODA Promonet
• Theme music by Kick the Cat
• Closing music from "Grapes" by Evan Stone

If you can get comfortable with the conversational tone and somewhat slower pace, you are sure to find something in this podcast to pique your interest. What makes the content so interesting is the way the "word nerds" connect their linguistic theme of the week to the real world in all kinds of ways - political, academic, and sports related speech all make an appearance. I learned about upspeak & how it relates to psychology, and about differences between formal and informal, British and American, and public and personal speech. And let's not forget the rude word of the week - weasel! - a recurring segment that spotlights terms from "windbag" to "bullshit."

From a technical perspective, the sound quality is good and the podcast makes good use of musical snippets to break the show up into smaller chunks, with one full song at about the halfway point. The "word nerds" are not working from a script. They use a broad outline and the conversation seems to flow more or less smoothly from there.

So while you may think that the podcast sounds a little, well, amateurish at first... all those ahs, ums, somewhats, kind ofs, and so forths are just, like, sort of, well, hmm, a little bit of, er, equivocation after all. You know?

Check Out These Other Highly Recommended Podcasts

The Princeton Review Vocab Minute
Researchers say music helps us remember. These goofy vocab songs are only one minute long, but that's plenty of time to fix each word in your memory!




Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing
Grammar Girl provides short, friendly tips to improve your writing. Whether English is your first language or your second language, these grammar, punctuation, style, and business tips will make you a better and more successful writer. These are only about 5 minutes long.

On The Media
Join On the Media (from NPR) for compelling radio that examines the impact of media on our lives. Each episode runs about 50 minutes.

More on the Future of News

Thought I'd also include a link to this excellent article from the January 29, 2007 issue of The Nation called "Newspapers...and After?" by John Nichols.

Convergent Journalism in the Real World

There's an article in the current edition of Business Week that talks about how Gannett, publisher of USA Today and 89 other dailies, is making convergent journalism a reality and blazing new ground along the way.

Columnist Jon Fine calls Gannett

"the newspaper chain with the most interesting and coherent approach to rethinking journalism and news-gathering."

Click here to read about Gannett's innovative attempts to blend amateur blogging with professional journalism.

News War

Want to know what forces are likely to impact your planned career in journalism?

PBS's Frontline is currently airing "News War: A Special Four-Part Investigation into the Future of News."

• Parts I & II: Secrets, Sources & Spin
• Part III: What's Happening to the News
• Part IV: Stories From a Small Planet

You can tune in to your local public tv station or watch the series online. Click here for a more detailed description, or listen to a podcast of the director, Lowell Bergman, being interviewed on NPR's Fresh Air.

Blogging & the Changing Nature of Politics

Who cares about blogging, anyway?

Do blogs matter - for politicians or the public - in the real world?

I began to address this issue in theory in my last post, so I thought I'd tell you the story of my first blogging experience to illustrate the personal and political power of blogging...

In the bloginning, I was trying to decide who to vote for in the 2004 presidential election. I checked out Howard Dean's website, because my cousin, Garrett Graff, was on his campaign staff. And lo, there was a companion website called Blog for America.

"Whyzit called a blog?" I asked.

"Whatsit do?"

Dean Campaign Manager Joe Trippi on Blogging & Elections

The blog could do many things:

• It introduced people from all over the US (& the world)

• It developed its own language that community members could share
  

• It linked to other blogs, like DailyKos

• It linked to traditional newspapers, both liberal and conservative, and to nontraditional media, like the online news site Salon.com

• It warned readers about errors of fact and logic in traditional news reports, & linked to sources to back this up

• It encouraged readers to swamp online polls like those at CNN's Inside Politics

• It got strangers to gather together in real life through Meetup.com

• The blog could see all news stories in all media at all times because the blog was made up of thousands of people

• The blog sent readers forth at a moment's notice to call, write & email the traditional media in response to controversial stories

People who claimed never to have been very active politically before found themselves doing the darndest things:

• They brought ideas to the blog - ideas for raising money, getting publicity & persuading voters

• They used their talents to design posters, flyers, & t-shirts, to translate information into the languages of immigrant communities, and to host parties & gatherings in their homes

• They gave of their time to strategize, write letters to voters, make phone calls, knock on doors, hang fliers, & man tables at public events

• And, above all, they blogged

You see, somehow the blog took consumers of traditional news media - political spectators - and transformed them into actors, creators...

...citizens.

Click here to read a Pew/Internet report on the impact of the internet on the 2004 election

In the end, I think the Howard Dean campaign was more about the blog than about the candidate himself. There was a sense of belonging to a community. The excitement there was palpable, and contagious. Because for the first time in a long time - or for some of us, ever - people felt empowered.

Almost overnight the blogosphere has become a political force to be reckoned with and an essential area of consideration for any political campaign.

Browse political blogs and find one that speaks to you!

Extra! Radical Blogosphere Saves Democracy!

Blogging for Democracy

When I read Jay Rosen’s essay, “What’s Radical About the Weblog Form in Journalism,” it was point #10 that caught me eye:

“Journalism traditionally assumes that democracy is what we have, information is what we seek. Whereas in the weblog world, information is what we have – it’s all around us – and democracy is what we seek.”

Unlike those who fear that blogs may be the death of traditional journalism, I think media bloggers have an important and exciting role to play in the continuing evolution of our democracy.

A Brief History of the News

In the early years of this country, the line between objectivity and subjectivity was blurred in the media. Anyone with the funds could print a pamphlet or newsletter and get their information and opinions out into the marketplace of ideas. The reliability of information was shaky, but access to the political and social conversations of the times was relatively high. As times changed,

• the news media were professionalized
• journalistic standards of objectivity were developed; ‘fact’ was separated from ‘opinion’
• news media were bought up by large corporations & profit became increasingly important
• target audiences are now often geographically diverse & highly segmented
• common spaces and community bonds diminished
  

The average person could no longer bring their ideas to market – the costs of publishing were prohibitive and distribution channels had disappeared or were now controlled by large corporations. But information is reliable now, right?

That Obscure Objectivity We Desire

Not quite. We recognize this implicitly when we speak of one news outlet being conservative, another liberal.

Someone must decide which stories are important and which are not, which facts to include in a story and which to leave out. We trust this task to the journalist because s/he is an ‘expert,’ but s/he’s a human being too! And as such, s/he has a particular, subjective view of the world – a view that is influenced by family, geography, culture, and other factors. Even in theory, no one can be perfectly objective.

There are also many practical reasons why the ‘objective’ or at least ‘fair and balanced’ information we find in the newspaper is not so balanced after all:

• ‘fair & balanced’ often means pitting one extreme viewpoint against the opposite extreme, thereby canceling out the middle ground where most people’s opinions fall
• owners often put profit ahead of good reporting
• large corporate owners often have conflicts of interest in reporting issues that affect themselves
  

So if it’s not possible, either practically or theoretically, to produce objective news, what should we do? We have information, but is it democratic?

Public Journalism Strikes Back

Recent trends in print and TV journalism suggest a sort of ‘race to the bottom’ is taking place as many media outlets, led by the likes of Fox News and USA Today, attempt to capture ratings by being more personal and entertaining at the expense (some would say) of high quality reporting.

Other traditional journalists and their supporters have sought to address this issue in a more thoughtful and civic-minded way by embracing a concept known as public journalism. Jay Rosen is a leading proponent of this approach.

Meanwhile, the online revolution has quietly produced its own spontaneous response to the problem: the blog. Blogging knits together the two themes of subjectivity/objectivity and the relationship of information to democracy. Here’s how:

To Blog, Perchance to Dream

In the traditional model, journalists are professionals who have, through their expert techniques, obtained the information about our democracy that we need. They then decide what information is important and pass it along in a fair and balanced way to the citizenry, who passively consumes it. The power to control the flow of information in and about our society is concentrated in the hands of relatively few.

Blogging flips the assumptions of traditional journalism on their head:

• power is no longer concentrated in the hands of a few professionals, since ordinary citizens can now critique the news, and post their own information
• citizen bloggers decide what information and stories are important
• bloggers talk amongst themselves and build consensus from the bottom up
• access to the marketplace of ideas is wide open once again, since barriers to blogging are relatively low
  

In a sense, bloggers are taking public journalism into their own hands:

“I am a public of one.
This is my subjectivity.”

They reshape the news through the lens of their own subjectivity by selecting stories from amongst the many different sources (both traditional and not) available on the internet, and comparing, critiquing, and building on them.

The Fourth Estate – Beta

As traditional media transition to an online format, we begin to see some real evidence of the democratization of information promised by the online revolution. Blogs are not likely to replace traditional news organizations - which is a good thing, because we need professional journalism.

We need it to hold high standards and to keep striving to produce fair and balanced information, however ‘fair and balanced’ may continue to be redefined.

And because the news media can never provide perfectly fair and balanced information, we need bloggers to remind us...

• that the world and what we make of it is always ultimately in our hands
• that good information and access to the marketplace of ideas are vital to a healthy democracy
• that we should each be an active producer and an active consumer of information

In this way, the traditional news media and the blogosphere have their own informal system of checks and balances.

E Bloggibus Unum

What does this mean for the news story?

Traditional journalists are still the gatekeepers of most of our information, and information must meet certain standards in order to enter the marketplace through the news media. But now the blogosphere can hold the media accountable by critiquing the stories they do (and don’t) cover.

Equally important is the way in which the blogosphere shifts public debate. Although bloggers are always watching the facts and won’t hesitate to pounce on suspect information, debate goes beyond asking “what are the facts of the story?” Instead, bloggers ask questions like:

• what are the beliefs that lead the writer to handle the facts in this way?
• given our beliefs, what are the implications of these facts?
  

In other words, blogging encourages us to focus on the interpretation of the information we have – the story that we weave around the facts. It throws everyone’s subjectivity into relief, where it can be examined, challenged and revised. The marketplace of ideas is once again open to (most of) the public.

What could be more democratic than that?

Blogging & Traditional Journalism

Blogs pose several challenges to traditional journalism:

(1) Bloggers aren't bound by a code of ethics or by industry standards, so they have fewer restrictions on their means of gathering information, and their information does not have to meet journalistic standards in order to be published. As a result, traditional journalists can be 'scooped' by bloggers. On the other hand, information published by bloggers may prove to be unreliable.

(2) Many blogs that focus on politics and the media seem to be made up of a core group of people who provide the majority of the posts and comments, which are then read by a much wider audience. Core group members are often able to devote hours every day to monitoring and analysing traditional media coverage. These critiques expose a broad audience to a deconstruction of traditional media, without providing an opportunity for journalists to present their side by explaining their choices or outlining the challenges they face and the conditions that limit their work.

(3) How savvy is today's blogging audience? Readers may not understand the differences between blogging and traditional journalism, or be able to recognize which blogs meet journalistic standards and which do not. Even when readers do, will they take the time to confirm the source of information posted on a blog? Can a source always be found on the web?

I think blogs that are published by traditional media should attempt to educate readers about these issues.

Autobiography

Who am I?

I'm a student at Shippensburg University. My major is Communications/Journalism with a Print Media emphasis. Currently based in Harrisburg, I was born in New York state and grew up in New Zealand.

I'm exploring the field of communications, and although I'm not certain which career path I'd like to pursue, I chose the print media emphasis because I thought that solid writing skills would be important in any communications position.

I'm a creative person who is energized by ideas, who likes to make connections between seemingly disparate areas, and who relishes the challenges of problem-solving and strategy development.

Why am I here?

To learn the web stuff. On the "computer". The computer-web stuff. I don't have much background in this.