Strategically Communicating

During this week’s reading in Center of Media & Social Impact on “How Journalists Think about Fair Use,” I stumbled onto this phrase:

“One mainstream reporter referred to bloggers as ‘these rogue players who have no formal journalistic training. Everyone can have a blog now.’”

This sentence reminded me of the hostility between journalists and bloggers, which not many people see the similarities as much as they see the differences between them.

I graduated with a broadcast degree, worked at a news station as a reporter, but I also love blogging and sharing my thoughts and writings with the world. Does this make it better for me to blog ? Does every blogger have to prove themselves as a journalist before they start a blog?

I would say in cases like Crystal Cox, there should be some journalistic background.

“Blogger Crystal Cox is No Journalist, Must Pay $2.5M in Damages, Says Judge,” is

Cox called herself an ‘investigative blogger.’ She blogged about Mr. Kevin Padrick, saying that he acted illegally as a trustee in a federal bankruptcy proceeding with Summit Accommodators. Mr. Padrick then sued her for defamation.

This case caused me to pause and stare at my screen for a while, first due to the fact that Cox calls herself an ‘investigator’ and secondly I wondered if bloggers like Cox are the reason there are some hostility.

Do you think there could be ‘investigative bloggers? Also, why do you think there is such hostility between journalists and bloggers?