SHUTTING OUT THE MEDIA: PART 3

Two local journalists were assaulted on Saturday, June 28, 2008 in Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood. They were standing back, out of the way, simply trying to cover a news story about a "man down" very near the office of 49th Ward Alderman Joe Moore. (Story here.) 

I was one of the two journalists. Craig Gernhardt was the other. We are known as "bloggers," but we are also writers. We write about local news. Although it may sound silly to say so, it is literally true that we cover current events in Chicago's 49th Alderman Ward better than NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News, the Chicago Tribune, the Sun-Times, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and even the News-Star …. combined. 

Yet, the reaction we got from the police and paramedics was nothing less than hostile. One police officer tried to take my camera. A paramedic tried to wrestle Craig's camera away from him. Imagine if a camera crew from a local ABC, CBS or NBC station had pulled onto the scene, cameras rolling. Would they have gotten the same treatment? 

We were treated as third-class citizens because we are "bloggers." The word is used derogatorily by many. Yes, we "blog" and therefore are "bloggers." But what does that mean, exactly, and why do some people not understand that blogging does not disqualify one from being a journalist. 

Decades ago, journalists who wrote their stories for newspapers were called "newspapermen." The term is still correct (as would be "newspaperwoman"), but sounds antiquated to most Americans in 2008. 

The definition of "newspaperman" is: 1. a person, esp. a man, who works for a newspaper, esp. as a reporter, editor, etc. 2. a person who owns or publishes a newspaper [source] 

The term "newspaperman" is used to distinguish a reporter who works for a newspaper from one who works for another medium, such as a wire service, a magazine or an electronic news outlet. Today, however, most Americans lump them all together as "reporters" or "journalists." 

Let's throw this into the mix: Craig Gernhardt is copublisher of a newspaper in Chicago. I am freelance reporter, whose writing and photographs have been published in a newspaper. So, are we "just bloggers?" 

But what about "bloggers?" Journalists are writers, but not all writers are journalists. Poets or novel writers, for example. It's a little more diverse with bloggers, though. Most bloggers are writers (some just post recipes or cat videos). 

Quality of writing is irrelevant. There are plenty of lousy writers working for newspapers, magazines, and so on. Some bloggers simply post photos or artwork, so they are not really writers. However, there is such a thing as "photojournalism," and some of the bloggers who post photos qualify as such. Whether they are putting up photos of a major sports star, a national leader or their neighbor's dog for others to see, they are engaging in forms of photojournalism. 

Many bloggers simply post an excerpt from other news sources, often with a brief introduction or editorial that they have written. The fact that this happens, again, does not disqualify them as journalists. Think of any newspaper, for example. The rely heavily on content from other sources such as wire services like Reuters, the Associated Press (AP), AFP, UPI and others. There are plenty of newspapers wherein over 80 percent of their content was not originated by their own writers. That fact, however, does not mean that the newspaper - including its publisher and editors - is not engaging in journalism. 

There is even a legal aspect to all of this. Jodie Hopperton wrote a good article called "Bloggers as Journalists: what are the rules?" at The Editors Weblog. Hopperton wrote: 

"Are Web loggers journalists? The question touches on not just legal arguments, such as how elastic shield laws are or should be, but also includes cultural and political overtones. If, for instance, a blogger seeks to claim the privileges of being a journalist, should we expect him to follow the same general rules -- including contacting all sides to the story and verifying facts independently? In the United States, courts have been grappling with this topic for a few years, with mixed results." Full Article…

Craig Gernhardt and I write more original content than the average blogger. (By average I mean everybody from kids who blog to Arianna Huffington.) We write about local events, meetings, police activity, politics and so on. This is the practice of journalism, regardless of the fact that our writing is made available to be read on web sites called "blogs." 

What's a blog? It's simply a type of web site. "Blog" is an unfortunate contraction of the original term "web log." In other words, a "blog," or "web blog," is simply a log (or journal) that is made available to readers on the World Wide Web. A blog, then, is merely a medium. Newspapers are a medium, television is a medium. Radio, pamphlets, and so on.

Regardless of whether somebody writes "The President of France Wet His Pants" in a newspaper, a magazine, for a TV anchor to read aloud, or on a stone tablet does not change the message. While it's true that the medium, unfortunately, can influence how unsophisticated people interpret the message. The old saying that "the medium is the message" is true only as long as the persons interpreting the message cannot see the substance for the form. 

Many newspaper journalists have their own blogs today. Is a newspaper reporter who writes a blog a "blogger?" Yes, of course s/he is. Does the fact that that reporter writes for a blog, in addition to writing for a newspaper, disqualify them from being called a "journalist?" No, of course not. 

Note, however, that just as any fool can write a blog, any fool with enough money can start a newspaper or magazine. For related reading about blogs and journalism, try this Google search.