blogging and real journalism

Hi all, my name is Terry and I am a student taking an online media class with College of the Canyons in Santa Clarita, CA. Our project for the class is to set up a blog using a topic selected by the instructor. This is my first experience with blogs, other than the assorted ones I may read when they are part of CNN or Fox news sites. I prefer to get my news from print, althought I am not opposed to reading online through the day if there is an interesting story.

Prior to posting this, I conducted research on several issues. These are as follows;
1. Is blogging a credible source of information?
2. How effective is blogging, ie. are blogs effective at reaching an audience?
3. How has blogging influenced journalism?

My research has found (drum roll please)...it depends on who is writing the article. The majority of websites I found pertaining to these issues appear to be written by bloggers. I noticed that sometimes it is difficult to differentiate between that of a blog and "real news" (at least it is to me). I read several articles on the issue as it relates to my local "rag". Their editors have formed the opinion that they must change in order to better suit their readers. But blogging was not specifically mentioned as the reason for this, instead it seemed to be from a sense of "why buy a paper when I can get the news for free" attitude.

So without further ado, I am diving into this debate with the following opinion;

I do not agree that blogging has significantly impacted the print journalism industry.

Other than the reasons stated above, I think that blogging has some severe credibility issues. Obviously it depends on whose blog you are reading. After using the internet for numerous years, I have found that many lies are propagated from people who have no clue what they are talking about. Now, I may not agree with a "professional" journalist, but you know they usually have several layers to go through in order to have their info published. You know, the nefarious "gatekeepers", editors, etc. Bloggers are the gatekeepers. The old adage, if it sounds to good to be true, it probably isn't, comes to mind. Some however, like Michael Yon, who regularly reports from Iraq, seem to have a good handle on it. Being a former military guy, I like his first hand account of what is happening.

Blogging obviously has huge influence, especially in younger adults, as they have been raised with computers and are quite computer literate. They are also much easier to influence than a guy like me in my mid 40's . I think (my opinion again) that as people mature, buy homes, raise children and become members of the community, they want the newspaper to inform them of what is happening in their world. Sure they may stray to the computer to learn about obscure facts from blogs from people all over the world, but for real news about the community it takes a news team to deliver that.

So I will end my first post with this thought. How enjoyable is it to settle in a comfortable chair on a rainy, Sunday morning. Drinking a cup of coffee, balancing your laptop on your lap while reading the news? No thanks, give me a good old newspaper (or book for that matter).