Blogging as Journalism?

Long Time, No See!

2005-11-22T14:32:00.000-08:00

Apologies for my general slackness in posting - it's been a hectic few days. Disappointingly, my interview at the school on Thursday was cancelled, which is highly irritating since my radio deadline is only two weeks away! I have another appointment tomorrow to meet with a Lib. Dem. MP, which will hopefully be more fruitful -fingers crossed!
I spent Saturday evening watching Take That videos with our good friend, Melody and I am not ashamed to admit it!
Melody has also agreed, as she has a car, to pick up my wheelchair for me next week. I've decided that perhaps a week is too long so I'm opting for four days. I'm also going to a Robert Plant concert in London a week on Sunday and it's not going to be too practical. I know that's kinda missing the point but we've been looking forward to this gig for a long time and I want to be able to get up and dance.
Speaking of which, the next big event on my social calendar is a Prodigy gig this Saturday. There's quite a gang of us going along so it should be great fun.
Time for lunch and then I guess I should turn my attention to media theory once again...

Thankyou BRC!

2005-11-17T05:48:00.000-08:00

The British Red Cross has offered to loan me a wheelchair. I'm picking it up next week. I'm SO nervous! There are so many issues I hadn't even considered (like getting up to go to the loo in the night!).

Blogging is NOT Journalism?

2005-11-16T23:01:00.000-08:00

Found this interesting article: http://www.corante.com/mooreslore/archives/2005/04/29/is_blogging_journalism.php
Although I'm slightly concerned that it entirely blows my hypothesis out of the water!
Shamefully, I've been hunting for a Take That T-shirt on eBay - in an entirely ironic sense, of course! Ahem...

Correction...

2005-11-16T21:50:00.000-08:00

I've just been corrected by my dear friend, Lee that my boyfriend is not the biggest geek in town and that, in fact, Lee and our buddy, Ian, are in fact the holders of that title! My apologies.

2005-11-16T20:11:00.001-08:00

We Have Light!

2005-11-16T20:11:00.000-08:00

We had just enough time last night to have showers, do the washing-up and put a load of washing on... and then we were cut off again... just in time for 'Enders! Typical!
I've spent most of the day pottering around - having my hair cut, package and posting various items I've flogged on eBay and planning our Christmas feast!
I've also somehow agreed to the idea of spending a week in a wheelchair and then writing an article about how I get on and people's reactions towards me. I'm not sure what I've let myself in for but I think it'll be a bit of an eye-opener! My boyfriend's dad spent most of his adult life in a wheelchair, and he reckons I'll be in for a rather frustrating shock. I'm looking forward to the challenge.
I'm also writing an article on 'redism' (if such a thing exists) to decipher whether the teasing of and negative bias towards redheads is the last socially-acceptably form of prejudice. Having 'auburn' hair myself and having only just shrugged the feeling of being an ugly freak of nature(!), it's a subject close to my heart.
Needless to say, I've not spent any time on my dissertation today after being totally baffled by my reading on the subjects of objectivity and the public sphere yesterday. Why do so many theorists insist in using such convoluted language?!
I'm off to a school in Bournemouth tomorrow to interview some kids taking part in an anti-obesity scheme for my radio assignment on childhood obesity. It's my penultimate interview before I can start editing properly and writing up my copy, and I'm counting down the days until my final deadline at the beginning of December - scary stuff!
Right, I'm off to prepare my interview questions, double-check my mp3 recorder is still working(!) and sit down in time for the Take That documentary...

High Drama!

2005-11-15T16:32:00.000-08:00

I haven't been able to post all day today as the power supply to the town where I live and the neighbouring one has been turned off! Apparently, a fire started in a scrapyard underneath a pylon at about nine o'clock this morning and they had to switch the electricity off as live cables started snapping! Traffic lights have been turned off, schools and shops closed, and telephone lines down - high drama in Dorset!
According to local radio, we've got power now for the next three hours in this village, and then we're going to lose it again whilst it's switched to another part of the town. Thankfully, this means I'll get to finally have a hot shower and do my washing-up!
I've had my nose stuck in 'Mass Media and Society' (by candlelight) all afternoon, reading about objectivity and the public sphere... and, to be truthful, finding it all highly confusing!
I also read an article this morning in last week's Press Gazette that the NUJ is planning a code of practise for citizen journalists - so far as blogging goes, I'd be interested to see how this would be implemented.
Right, I'm going to make use of my hot water before it's gone!

'Joi Ito's Web: Blogging vs Journalism'

2005-11-14T18:29:00.000-08:00

I just found this post at :
joi.ito.com/archives/2005/10/04/blogging_vs_journalism.html
(I'm not too familiar with blogging etiquette so I hope it's cool to cut and paste this?):

21:02 JST » Blogging about Blogging - Media and Journalism - Social Software

Posting by Thomas Crampton

Time for some reflection after more than a month of blogging here courtesy of Joi.

For my part, I have found Blogs are different from journalism because:

Involvement: In blogging you engage and try to spark conversations, not lecture. You succeed by getting feedback, not by writing something conclusive. A successful posting is a work in progress.

Timing: Not so important as I thought it would be. When I blog about a news article that I wrote three days earlier, the conversation takes off as if it were new. In that way, Blogs are more like a cocktail party conversation.

Tone: Blogs are more informal and personal. You are forced the kind of self-references that most news organizations try to beat out of journalists from birth.

Opinions: Blog postings work best with strong opinions in them. This is problematic for a journalist because we are supposed to avoid that. You can often get the same effect, however, by asking sharp questions.

Length: Postings are never longer than a few paragraphs and often broken into bullet point style (like this posting)

Reporting: I have not yet done any primary reporting in order to write a Blog posting. The most I do is look up things on the web and riff off knowledge or experience I already have.

Simple and quick: Blogging takes far less time than I expected. Since it is asynchronous communication, you can log on once or twice a day or take part more actively. Very much enjoy checking in with old postings to see how the conversation has evolved.

These thoughts came yesterday in London while participating at a conference organized by Accountability on a panel hosted by Michel Ogrizek, vice chairman of Edelman, the other panelists were David Weinberger of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School and John Lloyd of the Financial Times.

The audience and other panelists raised many great points - some of which I have plaguarized above - and we could only conclude that the interface between Blogs and journalism is a hot zone that will be fun to watch.

Additions and critiques to this list welcomed!

Technophobe - me?

2005-11-14T17:50:00.000-08:00

I've just encountered my first hurdle as a newbie blogger: after I submitted my listing to BlogWise and attempted to link to their site (apparently I needed to display their button too) I came across the template tab and was presented with a bewildering list of HTML code.
Thankfully, my other half is the biggest geek in town so he managed to rescue me in my hour of technical need - phewf!
Maybe blogging isn't so accessible to the masses after all...

Good evening...

2005-11-14T17:11:00.000-08:00

For my Multi-Media Journalism degree I am writing a dissertation to discuss and research whether blogs are a credible form of journalism.
Before I began my literature review, I knew nothing about blogging - literally nothing! I've now discovered an entire network of undercover citizen journalists who're giving the 'dead tree' traditionalists a run for their money! Words such as 'splog', 'troll' and 'flamer' have mysteriously entered my vocabulary!
As blogging is a relatively new phenomenon, I've had difficulty in finding existing media theory so links or tips on existing ideas and areas of research would be greatly appreciated.
For my sample study I will analyse the content of six UK-based current affairs blogs and compare them with the content of six UK newspapers of the same date. As I'm new to blogging I haven't got a great grasp yet on which are the most respected UK current affairs weblogs so suggestions on appropriate blogs would be great.
I've decided to assess the credibility of blogging as journalism with elements considered to be the main principles of traditonal journalism. I consider these to be accuracy, reliability, objectivity, and balance of argument and sources. This is by no means a comprehensive list of variables and I'd welcome any suggestions.
I would also be interested to hear thoughts on whether I should test blog articles against Galtung and Rogue's 'News Values'.
I'm hoping to update the blog at least every other day but forgive me if I don't - I'm ever so slightly swamped with coursework! I'm also putting together a 12-minute radio package on childhood obesity, practising (reluctantly) for my 100wpm shorthand exam and trying not to spend more than five hours a day playing with my virtual Nintendog! Ever so slightly distracting but oh, so cute!