Wriging

Got any links to obviously op/ed bloggers claiming to be journalists?

No, that's the thing. I can't even remember seeing someone claim to be a journalist, but I often see people talking about journalistic integrity in relation to bloggers!

I have a journalism degree and write a blog. Am I a journalist or a blogger?

You're either in a minority being both, or whichever one you choose (and CLAIM) to be!

I do agree with most of what Ozone42 says and that people shouldn't blindly assume all bloggers are journalists and immediately apply those standards to all bloggers. I am personally both - a professional journalist with a blog that I hold up to those standards, and I have a personal blog I'm lax about.

I'll often find myself just posting a link on my personal blog to a story and giving my 12-sentenced two cents on it. That's what bloggers do. Definitely. It's more like a public journal.

As a blog reader, I prefer it when people who write their opinions out on blogs about major issues (and probably it matters with minor ones, too), rely on facts or at least information they believe to be true. Not that you *have to* do that to be a "good" or popular blogger, but I do think it's a key part of making a compelling argument, writing an interesting piece, and being a reliable source people want to read.

All of us are responsible to our readers and if we're writing about things happening in the Bush administration, or our local school board, or reviewing a restaurant, honesty and accuracy are important -- at least to me, as a reader. This may not apply to every topic a person blogs about.

I consider all that different from the whole package of journalist responsibilities.

I mean, people who rant and rave about something and are just smooshing reality to fit their argument might be considered a blogger, sure, but are they a good one? Not that people can't write about things and have opinions without all the facts, but they should make that clear...I guess I don't care so much if a blogger is a journalist - I care more about their approach, methods, style, etc - and I'll judge their op/ed or especially "investigative" piece on that (since there are non-journalist bloggers who write such pieces).

On that note, you might want to check out zero.newassignment.net which is taking on this issue of bloggers and journalists from a totally different angle... (I joined the site but don't know how I feel about it and don't have the time to contribute to it, but I'm not officially affiliated or anything).

I haven't seen too much of that but I think they just want people not to make up stuff and put it out there as fact.

I think it is necessary to make clear in whatever you write that it is your opinion and is based on nothing even resembling fact, if that is the case.

Blogs are about personal opinion regardless what it is about. You can't have personal opinions in journalism because then it would distort the cold hard facts.

The best you can do is a commentary but in mainstream journalism that comes far and few in between because again...it's a form of personal opinion.

A journalist can be a blogger, but a blogger can't necessarily be a journalist.

Agree, there's no reason bloggers can't be journalist, it's just that as a general rule they are not.

I do think that it's far far more valuable for bloggers to comment on what they believe is the truth, and for them to do fact checking, but don't think it's necessary. I think that's what separates good comentators from bad.

We all "smoosh reality" to fit our needs, it's just that some of us are objective about it, and some are not.

Amanda Cognogdon (did I spell that right?) is one example of someone wanting it both ways, in regards to journalism and blogging.

She styles herself as a journalist, but when it's convenient, and makes her money, she'll be the first to claim she's a regular blogger.

Case in point: her video ad for Dupont. When asked how is meshed with her journalistic integrety (according to our local paper) she responded saying she wasn't a journalist, just a blogger.

I know that you can separate the journalist and the blogger (as dmm227 does), but when your name become synonymous with an officiall news outlet--she does video reports for CNN I think--it becomes much harder to go back and say "oh, that was me the blogger, not me the journalist."

I think that bloggers can be journalists once in awhile, when they break an interesting story or do some research that others have never done, but as a whole bloggers generally are not journalists. I think in my entire career on the web I've probably only written about 4-5 articles where I did major research on a new topic, uncovered something that nobody else had uncovered, and then written a exposé article.

Well the biggest problem I see here is that bloggers want to pick and choose when they are bloggers vs. when they are journalists. They want to be able to write what they want without research, but when they do research they want to be respected like journalists and taken as seriously. However, the next day they are back to writing a piece without any research and throwing out the excuse that they are bloggers they are allowed to do so.

I'm fine with writing without researching, but if you do research and are still laughed upon as being just a blogger then you brought that upon yourself. You can't expect to have the best of both worlds whenever it is convenient for you.

I tried to be a "journalist" in my own blog, documenting the research that we do, why and how we do it. I see it as a form of public education. But unfortunately, somebody else sees it as an infringement of her intellectual property.

So yea, I'm back to being a "blogger" :)

I really agree with Scrivs' point. A lot of people feel like they could do better than journalists but as soon as people start questioning their research, approach, or sources, etc., they react with, "woah - i'm just a blogger." The writer really has to decide from the get if their blog is going to be a personal-opinion blog, or whether they're doing the journalist thing, and not to try and mush (or smooosh!) the two. It's not fair to the reader either when you do that.

I actually had wrestled with this a bit myself, but in a different way. As I mentioned earlier, I have a blog that I write for and edit with about 12 other writers. It's a nightlife/lifestyle blog, so while we do research and real articles, there's a lot of "personality" and humor, etc., and sometimes that stuff is hard to edit because the writer feels they can be less accurate - because it's been personalized, but also because it's a blog.

I'm with Scrivs. If they want their cake, let them eat it.

If you show me your degree in journalism, I'll call you a journalist.
If you show me your degree in blogging.....I'll call you an idiot with an opinion.