bloggers are not members of the media
December 3, 2006
just because you have a camera, does not make you a photographer.
just because you can write, does not make you a journalist.
just because you have a blog, does not make you media.
there is far more responsibility that comes with the three titles above. responsibility, that i personally believe a lot of bloggers in the malaysian blogsphere are not capable of handling. case in point, there is no anonymity in any of the above, and for darn good reason too.
so really, unless you got a problem owning up to your own work and opinions, you don’t have what it takes to call yourself a photographer, a journalist or media.
i am of the personal opinion that bloggers should not be taken seriously as a form of mainstream media. bloggers are not representatives of the media. they are in fact, users of the media.
a blog is a personal journal where one expresses opinions freely – that much i agree with. blogs are a form of personal expression, prone to being emotional, sensational, irresponsible and sometimes even ill-informed. lets not talk about causing disharmony, blogs use a brash form of language, devoid of editorial filters and for the most part, style. but you see, that is the person – imperfect. a blog may be a reflection of this. but certainly nothing more.
so there. if you feel that you are media, go join a publication. if you want to remain anonymous, then don’t go around calling yourself a member of the media. anyone savvy enough with half a brain can tell that there are far too many lunatics in the blogsphere anyway.
magic
December 3, 2006 at 8:38 pm
You make a good point, though I doubt that most bloggers take themselves seriously as mainstream media. Most bloggers know that for a fact they are the faceless masses. While bloggers have the power to influence decisions of their readers these days, only a handful of bloggers are actually that narcissistic to believe that they make a difference by simply “blogging about it”.
The rest simply don’t care and it shows in so many different ways.
December 3, 2006 at 9:00 pm
there are plenty of blogs with responsible authors who own up to what they publish.
December 3, 2006 at 9:02 pm
plus, being an alternative media is what makes blogs so appealing to read anyway.
December 3, 2006 at 9:33 pm
Just because you have a camera, that makes you a photographer!
Just because you can write, that makes you a journalist!
Just because you have a blog, that makes you media!
It just that you might not be a responsible photographer or journalist or media. Long live “citizen journalism”!
You need to learn whether you should take the blog you reading seriously or not. For me, I don’t take blogs that the author doesn’t even take the time to capitalize the first letter on the first word at the beginning of a sentence. I guess it depends on how serious are you about your blog. ;)
December 3, 2006 at 9:55 pm
paul: haha… alternative media is the appeal of blogs… kinda like reality tv… we are living in a world of narcissistic opinionated busybodies who are either too cowardly to be open (to mainstream media) about their point of views, or really just in it for the ride. blogs as alternative entertainment media – well, that’s something to think about.
jibone: i’d like to see the day a blogger demands access to press conferences just because they have a website – till that day comes, what you write will always be 2nd or 3rd hand info from proper mainstream media. you got one thing right, i don’t take any blog, including this one, seriously. there is far more to life than imprisoning it on the internet.
whether you write about music, movies, food or whatever, blogging is a hobby. keep it that way.
December 3, 2006 at 10:03 pm
In that case, this NST journalist who once gave a talk at my high school about how journalists are closet superstars who get a shot of stardom via writings and observations (read: anonymity) was a big fat liar! *insert horrified gasp*
Which would make her NOT a good journalist.
Or if I were anal enough, she shouldn’t even be labelled as a journalist because the media is supposed to report responsibly.
But *insert horrified gasp again* wait a minute! Doesn’t that mean a vast majority of the mainstream media should be crucified for calling themselves the media yet at the same time carry out irresponsible and insignificant reporting?
Really now. How many journalists are known by face anyway? Those with columns? They might have to watch their words even more carefully. Responsible reporting does not equate cowardice. And please, don’t even get me started on those with connections, because there lies a higher possibility of biasness.
Whew. That was tiring. Now to go back whinging about insignificant things in my emotional, sensational, ill-informed personal blog.
December 3, 2006 at 10:07 pm
philters: fyi, most of the local automotive developments that i post in my blog are straight from the car company’s pr company press releases. that day HAS come.
December 3, 2006 at 10:16 pm
chen: no one is discounting the superstardom of journalists. nor is anyone saying that it is not right to write opinions and observations. by all means, go ahead and write your blog. express all you want in it. no one is asking you to change your style or content. you are a user of a powerful form of media. you use it to express yourself to the world. no one said there is anything wrong with that.
my point is simply that blogs should not be taken seriously as media and therefore, should not be seen as threats to mainstream media. proper journalists are proper journalists. bloggers are bloggers. there is no equation here.
December 3, 2006 at 10:19 pm
paul: you recognise therefore, the importance of responsible reporting. good for you.
December 3, 2006 at 10:27 pm
just because we don’t have to apply for a KDN number, and choose to display information in a reverse chronological order that so happens everyone decides to call a “blog format”, doesn’t mean we aren’t any less credible than political party controlled newspapers.
what you’ve done in your post is generalize, don’t let a few bad apples spoil the whole basket.
December 3, 2006 at 10:32 pm
[...] bloggers are not members of the media! Trackback Related Posts Most bloggers are womenInternet no longer niche mediaWeb ‘fuelling crisis inpolitics’Blogging Asia: A Windows Live Report [...]
December 3, 2006 at 10:41 pm
Wait. Are we mixing up something here. A journalist’s mission is to report facts. When we say an earthquake killed 21 people yesterday, we report a fact. A blogger’s mission is to write personal views about the facts. When bloggers curse the incompetent evacuation procedures that contributed to the death toll, they express an opinion about the fact. Who says personal opinions must always be correct and verifiable. If that’s the case, the jails today would be filled with mothers-in-law. And because opinons are just that – opinions, anyone is free to disagree, unlike a fact.
If we cannot tell the difference between journalist and blogger and then try to superimpose the rules of one over the other, then it says a lot about us. Ignorance. We don’t even understand simple facts about the media that we’re trying to control. Just ask these people what they think is the difference between website, forum, blog, newsgroup and watch them fumble.
Pretty entertaining to see the blind leading the blind.
December 3, 2006 at 10:52 pm
paul: i did not say bloggers are less credible. my point remains that a greater majority of them are less responsible.
leng lui: you are right. personal opinions do not always have to be correct nor verifiable. i am not trying to impose journalistic rules over bloggers. my point is to express that there is a difference. a glaring one, as you have rightfully examplified.
December 3, 2006 at 11:11 pm
i’d taken into consideration that sweeping statements as such would not be effective solely because blogs are publishing platforms, and the merit depends on the individual.
there IS a consideration that a vast majority self-edits / fact checks (ideally), but to say that blogs don’t aren’t journalism and so on is to miss the point somewhat.
December 3, 2006 at 11:20 pm
lainie: interesting. to a greater extend, i am obliged to agree that merit does rest on the individual. having said that nevertheless, not all publishing platforms can be deemed to be journalistic. blogs especially sits on the very fine line which borders this.
December 4, 2006 at 12:10 am
i would not consider all publishing platforms journalistic either. my contention is that the blog in itself is a tool available to anyone without the usual restrictions of setting up capital / licensing restrictions, and most importantly in this country – the lack of censorship.
so what we have is a tool. which is why i think the argument of whether or not blogs are run by journalists or have the journalistic merit would be somewhat redundant.
also, in terms of journalism, what form are we looking at here? social commentary? research? news reporting? it is possible for anyone to indulge in such, if they are so inclined, regardless of their training or day jobs.
maybe a different angle would be accountability. but in malaysia, say, alternative press and spaces are highly necessary, i think, because our print media’s still very much stuck in the developmental phase.
so in that sense, the only space a journalist would have for political commentary of a critical nature (not of the opposition, but say BN), without the need to pander to whichever media diversion we’re having this time (keris waving, black metal and whatnot), would probably be….online.
which means most of our access to such commentary would also be from websites, email listings, and yes, blogs.
anyhow – blog, newspaper, tv report or whatnot, the ultimate thing is, if the audience is treating it as a source of news / facts, there should always be some level of critical thinking as opposed to thoughtlessly accepting that official channels are always correct.
December 4, 2006 at 12:48 am
lainie: i think we have an agreement. you call blogs a tool. i call bloggers users of a form of media. there is still no equation between bloggers and journalists.
in the end, the minority (i have to insist on this) of blogs that do provide valid and critical commentary remains over shadowed by too many more irresponsible and immature blogs. our local blogsphere is not ready to call itself a credible form of media.
there is hope yet nonetheless. credible blogs don’t need to shout out about it – they naturally draw an audience by their writings. they don’t care if they are called bloggers or journalists or political observers. their blog, as i reiterate, is a form of media in its own right. the message is what is important and it gets across. whether you call it mainstream media or not, does not matter.
December 4, 2006 at 8:41 am
… what did i miss?
December 4, 2006 at 2:23 pm
agree
agree (in that i do not read those blogs much, but am aware of their proliferation – PPS is getting very political).
therefore, minor disagreement- in that i don’t consider any nation to have a blogosphere that can be called credible as a whole. but, still agree that it is a developing phase (which is where, i presume, your hope comes in).
December 4, 2006 at 2:54 pm
(also, in that case, you may want to refine the title of the blog post? just a friendly suggestion — unless i missed something, then never mind)
December 4, 2006 at 3:15 pm
lainie: i’ll take down the exclamation mark. how’s that?
December 5, 2006 at 1:26 am
Hehe this has become some discussion.
“i’d like to see the day a blogger demands access to press conferences just because they have a website – till that day comes, what you write will always be 2nd or 3rd hand info from proper mainstream media.”
Robert Schoble for example is been invited to conference and such just because he is a blogger. As paultan said, the day HAS come, may be not for you? May be it’s not that common yet here in malaysia.
“whether you write about music, movies, food or whatever, blogging is a hobby. keep it that way.”
To some it’s not just a hobby. Some people do takes their blog seriously.
December 5, 2006 at 1:13 pm
jibone: as i have conceeded, perhaps a day has come to recognise a few credible blogs. to grant this privlidge onto the entire blogsphere however, is what i am extremely doubtful about.
responsibility in this sense, is something which needs to be earned.
December 5, 2006 at 4:06 pm
jibone: some discussion, yea? i personally appreciate the openness examplified by those who left comments on this posting. not too emotional, not too defensive and not too immature.
looks like it IS possible to have issue centered discussions without having personal attacks on controversial topics.
December 6, 2006 at 12:22 pm
snarky, snarky fellow :)