I’ve been blogging for almost nine months now, and I’ve enjoyed the experience. Now that I’ve compared it to other forms of expressing information like the newspaper, magazine, and other types of expression i think it’s sufficient to say that blogging, or news being published online is the new form of Journalism.

One of the things about blogging is that you don’t need a Journalism degree to be noticed. The everyday user has become more powerful then ever when it comes to creating, writing, and publishing news. They are publishing great content at a rate that has never been seen before. News is getting out quicker, cleaner and faster. I wouldn’t say that it’s coming out in it’s more truthful form, but users are getting there news more directly or right from the source.

Some major companies have been smart enough to realize this new form of Journalism like CNN or The CBC. They have started publishing their news online through Wordpress, which is a platform for blogging. By doing this, they have been pushed to the head of the game. Links to their website have been found all over the internet driving them traffic, and attention. In some ways more attention than they would get through feeding news through our television screens.

Blogging has also become the new source of income for journalist. Pay per click advertising has never been so popular. Also big companies are entering advertising within the blogosphere paying big bucks to have their ads shown on blogs. Income from Paypal is also growing with more and more people pasting “Donate Buttons” onto their website. Careers of hundreds of people have been made through posting new content, and information online.

This also brings up the question to whether Bloggers are considered Journalist all together. Of course they don’t have the education that qualified Journalist do. But they do post new and relevant information that any other professional writer would. If Bloggers are considered Journalist should they be held to the same standers, and consequences the media have to deal with? Usually Bloggers write for self soothing, or out of interest in a certain subject or topic. Does this mean that they are Journalist, or does this mean that they are everyday people writing as a passion? Should they be under laws, and jurisdictions? Or should they be considered allowed to have freedom of speech?

Credibility also comes up when you talk about Bloggers. Journalist generally are known to have more credibility than an everyday blogger. Do Bloggers have the same credibility as a Journalist? Should they suffer the same consequences as Professional writers for wrongdoings and mis-published information? Or should we just leave them alone if the publish copyright or plagiarized material?

Before i wrap this post up i should also ask the question of whether “Picture Blogs” is really a blog at all. In simpler form is a blog that is only pictures a blog or is it a photo album? Is a photography blog Journalism, or is it a photo album?

Whats your opinion? Is Blogging the New form of Journalism? Is it the future of presenting and broadcasting news? Is the time of the newspaper coming to and end? Where do you get your news from? Do you subscribe to online news distributors, or RSS Feeds? I would really be curious to know. If you have a thought or opinion on this matter please comment below or email me by clicking here. I reply to all email questions and read all of my email.

Thanks, Brad