Blog before you Think!

IT Conversations hosts the complete audio archive of the Bloggercon III held November 2004. My third stop was the Journalism Session, hosted by Scott Rosenberg.

quick notes:

• how do bloggers conceive themselves (as bloggers, as journalists, as both) vs. how are they labeled?

• new media don’t succeed if they are better at something old media are already good at, but if they are good at things where old media fail

• holy wars (bloggers: journalists don’t get it, are corrupted, betray democracy,...; journalists: bloggers don’t get it, are uninformed, betray democracy,...) vs. what can bloggers and journalists learn from each other.

• journalists can learn from bloggers: blur the personal and the professional (everyone has a position anyway so why not put it on the table); vitality; conversation with readers; being humble (they don’t know everything, bloggers correct, put in perspective,...)

• bloggers can learn from journalists: value of legwork; nature of accountability; editing is a good thing; being humble (don’t know everything either)

• feeling that media don’t represent the people anymore (are stuck in their business situation, ass kissing the sponsors,...)

• bloggers cover local news, micro-stories, establish a local expertise,.. and it’s on the record

• blogging is no zero sum game for journalism (if bloggers gain, they loose)

• traditional journalist career: cover hard facts (reporter) – analyse – finally: have a opinion; blogger denaturalize this.

• insularity of journalism (don’t pass on sources, don’t link outside,...) vs. the linking factory of the web, where more is better, because it allows to form your own opinion.

Previous stops were the Newbie Session and the Overload Session.