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In an era where anybody with a keyboard can create a blog, can anyone be a journalist? What is the definition of journalist? What are the requisite credentials? Is there a difference between a journalist and a writer? What about between a journalist and a blogger? Do these differences matter? To whom?
The primary problem with the confusion over whose copy is legitimate these days seems to center on a few core issues: accuracy and professionalism. Take, for example, a very basic journalistic rule: “Thou shalt not steal the work of others without appropriate attribution.” Such appropriation seems rampant, and often purposeful, in the electronic environment.
Carol Hawkins, a reporter at the Florida Times Union, says she was once asked to contribute 800 to 1,000 words of copy in an hour for an online newsletter. “I asked the non-journalist editor how to accomplish that,” says Hawkins, “and she said ‘just go out to the Internet, find the answer to the story’s question and copy and paste it.’ I was amazed to find how many other stories on the Internet are written this way—different web sites with the same story, word for word.
“Journalism is supposed to be independent work, produced from interviews with primary sources. But now, copy-and-paste—a.k.a. plagiarism—often passes for journalism.”
Of course, “real” journalists have been famously—or infamously—accused of appropriating the work of others. Most recently Maureen Dowd of The New York Times was accused of plagiarizing from Josh Marshall’s blog Talking Points Memo—a charge she refutes, explaining that the line that appears to have been lifted was actually stated to her from another source.
So even professional journalists can be accused—and sometimes even found guilty—of plagiarism. But what about the integrity of the profession in terms of knowing how to research, report and write a good story? Do those who have come to be called citizen journalists have the skills needed to adequately and effectively convey information?
Elena Acoba is an independent writer and editor. “A lot of blogs and e-letters are all just delivery systems for people who have something to say,” she says, “just as the backyard fence, the neighborhood picnic and the holiday card once served the same purpose. Does this mean that the people who generate them are journalists? I believe not.”
Dustin Herlich, a writer at Jewish Mayhem Magazine, agrees. “I think blogging is a great platform for opinion and commentary, not journalism. The line between the two has been blurred beyond recognition and I feel that’s unfortunate. Too many people can’t tell the difference any more between punditry and opinion—and hard facts,” says Herlich.
Others draw interesting analogies that help drive the point home.
“There’s a dentist in my area who now has his own magazine,” says Wendy Meyeroff, a former journalist who has moved into the realm of marketing communication. “[It’s] very high-gloss, most of it poorly designed and written. None of it is wrong—just not very substantive. Is the dentist now a journalist?”
Jennifer Larson is an independent writing and editing professional. She takes a pragmatic approach to the issue. “Lots of people seem to believe that anyone with a blog is a journalist. It’s just not that simple. I own a toilet auger and I can use it when necessary, but it sure doesn’t make me a plumber. Journalists are people who have the skills, knowledge and context that allow them to do their jobs to the best of their ability in a professional manner.”
And Acoba adds: “Just as I do not call myself a nurse even though I know basic first aid and minor disease treatment, I don’t think we should confer journalist status on people just because they have something to say and a delivery system that allows them to say it to a large number of people.
“I believe a separation needs to be made between so-called citizen journalists—the old gadfly—and trained journalists.”
As the lines between traditional and new media blur, the question of what makes a blogger, writer—or simply someone with an opinion—a journalist is one that is likely to be grappled with and debated for some time.
In the meantime, media consumers will have to make the call. While in the past, gatekeepers like editors and publishers served in the role of helping us discern what was accurate, original and supposedly non-biased, as consumers of information today we are each responsible for becoming critical of the information we digest on a daily basis. We must consider the credibility of both the distribution channel itself as well as the source that compiled the information.
Perhaps in a world where even “real” journalists don’t always follow the tenets of journalism that they learned in school, and where citizen journalists provide broad access to information that increasingly reveals new and varied perspectives and insights that might otherwise have gone uncovered, maybe an interim solution would be for those of us not formerly trained in the field of journalism to simply call ourselves communicators.
Linda Pophal, ABC, is a communication consultant and business journalist (uh, communicator…) with a background in corporate communication and marketing. She consults with clients on strategic solutions to their communication challenges and writes business/employee management and marketing communication articles for both general and trade publication. Pophal is the author of eleven books on management and marketing issues. |
