I blog, therefore I’m a journalist
You should not take for granted this statement: the debate whether blogging should be seen as a different kind of journalism is quite hot (and has been for a long time).
Fact is, there’s still no ruling about this and the mere fact of writing on a blog doesn’t make you a journalist – though.
On the other side, defamation and content responsibility limits are still to be defined worldwide.
This post by WebProNews begins from a court ruling (in favor) of a Oregon blogger suited by Obsidian Finance Group for defamation.
Internet blogs are not covered by the statute in question, which defines media of communication as “any newspaper, magazine or other periodical, book, pamphlet, news service, wire service, news or feature syndicate, broadcast station or network, or cable television system.
Chris Crum, WebProNews columnist, focuses on this point, actually:
And there it is. Where exactly is the line that turns a blog into a “news service”? When it has no opinion? Show me a news service that doesn’t have any opinion whatsoever. Even if you can show me one, there are plenty that do and are still likely considered news services in this case.
Is it about the format of the site? The ratio of unique news to commentary?
Content on the web is becoming more and more about who it’s coming from. Not the organization that publishes it. That’s why Google is using authorship markup, tied to people’s Google profiles. That’s why Facebook launched the subscribe button.
This is the key point: does a blog actually means news and a blogger mean journalist?
(actually I’ve got no real answer)
[Via WebProNews]
