I was assigned to read some sections from the book blog! by David Kline and Dan Burstein for my Digital Journalism class, and I was surprised with some of the information I read.
As a journalism student I am aware of the fact that the media’s reputation has been declining and that citizens don’t trust the media as they once did. During this reading it surprised me to find out that even though this is true the media still holds the power when it comes down to news.
I thought that ratings were decreasing as time passed by, but it seems that they are still increasing by combining new technology and effectively including blogs into the system. I have heard various times in the news that blogs are taking over the media, and I thought this was actually true. After reading these sections I come to understand that blogs are not taking over but rather helping the media stay alive.
It makes sense why the media has created blogs and stresses out to the public to participate in those blogs. They want to keep the people interested in this new phenomenon but at the same time give them a say. Blogs are definitely keeping the readers informed and connected.
I agree with these authors when they say that blogs are here to make things better and not necessarily to take over. It is true that important names will still keep the power because they are still considered more reliable. Anyone can write a blog and for most people to actually believe someone they need to know who they are and what they are about. In blogs we don’t know who is actually doing the writing.
As a journalism student I plan to become a reporter one day, and this reading proves to me how I should be aware of blogs and learn how to blog effectively. It makes me see that it will be around for a while and how eventually I will have to do it myself. My Digital Journalism class is a great example of this because our professor is actually making us blog.
What really surprised me was the effect that blogs had in the 2004 presidential election. I was unaware of how blogs practically determined who was going to win the election. It surprised me the power that blogs can have, and it makes me understand why it is very important to keep them close to the media.
As long as the media keeps up with technology it should have nothing to fear especially when it comes down to blogs. Like these authors mentioned blogs can’t control people’s ideas but they can certainly make them think and question the unthinkable.
3 comments:
I too had no idea how big of a part blogs played in the 2004 election.
I wonder how big of a part they will play in this election? Do you think they will be as influential? I know some of the candidates leave messages on their blogs. Entertainment bloggers are even endorsing candidates on their sites. Perez Hilton recently sat down with Sam Donaldson and disscussed why he is endorsing Senator Clinton on his blog.
I have to agree that when I read about the effect blogs I had on the 2004 election, I was really surprised. But one thing still kind o bothers me, and it was how the news and blogs are coming together. I think that they are feeding off one anohter, but I also think that the news stations are being very selective about which blogs they want to include with their news.
Good post. You covered a lot of good ground and raised good points.
My only real critique is how general some of the commentary was. WHY are blogs valuable? What do they provide? How are they helping media stay afloat? What's the relationship like? What attributes cause this?
Good job, just dig a little deeper and add more detailed context.
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