Monday, December 17, 2001

journalism and blogs
Mike Sanders in his blog keep trying questions blogging and journalism. Blogging has been called personal journalism, and so Sanders asks if that means that we are all journalists now.

From a professional standpoint (as a teacher of journalists), that is a silly notion. I don't become a reporter because I write a report, I don't become a nurse just because I nurse a relative, I don't become a cook because I cook, I don't become a carpenter when I hit a nail with a hammer. What has happened is that the net and blogger has given the tools to publish to everybody. I can write and publish with the same ease as I can make dinner. The results from this general publishing is as varied as the results from home-cooking as well. Some bloggers just heat up half-chewed junk-food, others cook wonderfully elaborate meals. But when we are invited to eat with a friend, we don't insist on the food being perfect: we enjoy what we like, skip what we hate, focus on the fact that we were invited to share and compliment the efforts gone into the meal.

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