Journalism vs Blogging

By Nick van der Leek

Insights from the Digital Citizen Indaba

I suppose, to put my point of view into context, I should point out that I am a writer that blogs. I don’t consider myself a blogger, but a writer that also blogs.

I do appreciate the powerful influence bloggers are having on mainstream media. There are very real power shifts taking place - away from the editors and ’professional journalists’ and towards independent writers and freelance journalists, who are, like myself, often publishing their opinions on blogs.

Established writers and editors like James Kunstler create alternate venues for public discourse (on their websites). You read a book and want to know what the author feels about current events 6 months, 6 years later? Visit his or her blog.

Because of this apparently unauthorised transfer of power, journalists are calling for controls over the so-called blogosphere. These are the same journalists who once demanded ’free speech’ and other press freedoms. Why are they demanding these controls? Because their livelihoods are under threat. Well, they will be if journalists do nothing except try to impose controls on the wave of journo’s-in-waiting.

Concerns were expressed at the DCI about anarchy in the blogosphere. I don’t buy that. Anarchy, as long as it is temporary, is good. Anarchy is growth. America began through anarchy, so did plenty of other democracies. Life, it could be argued, is anarchy (against death).
There are valid concerns that blogs can be used to spread hatespeech, nuclear bomb making expertise and recipes for bad chicken soup.

Ethan Zuckerman has argued that this ’anarchy’ has modulated itself since the internet came into existence. I tend to agree. I think if you’re seeing anarchy, then you probably also think God is a man carrying a very long sword. Religion is a light in the fog, but some think they see (or have a right to see) more than others.

For those of the old school, never fear. The old rules still apply. Bad blogs disappear. Success is still measured by good writing, good content or overall popularity (which may mean the blog is badly written but somehow is crowd/mob pleasing).

What the internet and blogs do do is this: it gives a voice to those who do have talent, but have been excluded by those in power, or those with power. It’s increasingly easy for individuals to possess very powerful tools. Word processing and research tools, which has flattened the field, and put everyone on par with everyone else. Now, more than ever, it’s the calibre of the individual, bones to the grindstone hard work, that will make the difference between success and failure.

Blogs about what someone had for breakfast, or how hungover someone is on a Sunday morning may work for a while, but in a scenario like South Africa where there are limited jobs and opportunities, there is now a chance to get exposure through effort.

Journalists are like house painters. Necessary. They paint doors, windows - the pieces that make up a structure. They don’t manufacture things or build stories that don’t exist. They simply color in details. Writers though, are like artists. They build a scenario, and color it in. Sometimes they’re a little off, and sometimes they’re off by a long way. Theirs is a particular point of view, an expression. Most don’t find success, but those who do, can do well. Blogs can be an extra tool in the toolbox of a the writer as an artist.

Blogs mean that those who do have jobs (and some skill as writers) will have to stay on their toes, while the internet doubles and doubles again, speeding faster and faster around them. Journalism and blogging have one thing in common - and that’s writing. In both cases, good writers will flourish and be able to migrate from one domain to the next. Good, prolific writers ought not to be concerned. As for the rest: the stampede is already underway.