Friday, November 16, 2007

Blogging News Stories: The New Journalism

Blogging News Stories: The New Journalism
Blogging news stories as they unfold, in real-time, is one
of the most exciting and controversial applications of
blogging today.

Blogging news stories as they unfold, in real-time, is one
of the most exciting and controversial applications of
blogging today. One Blogging New Journalism thing that
makes the blogosphere so active is the fact that it is
possible to update a blog instantaneously, so the news on
blogs tends to be more current than the news in the paper,
or on television. Unlike traditional news media, news that
appears on blogs does not have to travel through a maze of
editors and administrators before it's delivered to the
general public. This "New Journalism" has some advantages,
and some distinct disadvantages.

One of the most notable cases of news hitting a blog before
appearing in traditional media took place in July 2005 when
terrorism struck London. As passengers were evacuated from
a subway car near an explosion, one man took several
photographs of the scene with his cellular phone, and
within an hour these images were posted online.
First-person accounts of the catastrophe began appearing on
blogs, soon after these photos appeared, and people all
over the world learned about the events in London by
reading the words and seeing the photos posted by bloggers.

The fact that these stories and images were being shared
directly by individuals operating without the added filter
of a reporter, made the crisis feel very immediate and
personal to people across the globe.

Individuals sharing information across open, unfiltered
communication channels, known as social networking, is a
way of life in the Happy News Reporters blogosphere. When
it comes to blogging news stories, individuals report in a
very personal context, thus making the information that
much more appealing to the mass blogging audience. This has
the potential to be the beginning of an exciting new era of
reporting, one that takes "New Journalism" to it's logical
next step by putting the power to shape how the news is
written and read directly into the hands of the public.

Many bloggers and cultural commentators who are champions
of the movement feel that this growing trend; of
individuals sharing and receiving their news from blogs, is
a good thing as it facilitates a more democratic flow of
information. Neutralizing the control of information, by
blogging news stories, allows more voices to be heard on
important current events.

However, there are many that would, and do, disagree. Those
that oppose "New Journalism" argue that unlike traditional
media, blogs do not provide for a fact check and therefore
there is no accountability measures in place. This can
result in a very rapid and massive spread of
misinformation. In fact, more than one such "falsehood" has
taken the blogosphere by storm.

The debate over whether blogging news stories, as they
happen and whether it is ethical or not, can become very
complicated, but no matter which side of this debate you
stand on relative to blogging news stories, you are almost
sure to agree that this movement, "New Journalism", IS
revolutionizing how modern people get their news.


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