by Stan Rezaee

Created on: November 29, 2010

The internet may have made life easier, but it has also threatened the flow of news information. Thanks to the rise of bloggers and citizens journalists, professional journalists are being marginalized by media outlets. Both a profession and the flow of information are at risk if bloggers continue to be seen as an alternative.

Now professional journalism is becoming a questionable career. Newspapers are either reducing staff and circulation or just closing down while media outlets are facing new challenges.

Bloggers are becoming a popular source of news because in theory, professional journalism is corrupted by the bias of the “liberal media” and can not be trusted. Outlets like CNN and the New York Times, have their own interests to protect and hence will be lying about stories they report on. Bloggers don’t work for anyone and are free from the bias of the media bosses.

In reality, bloggers are not a credible source of information. Would you trust a news story if it came from a source called “My Cool News Blog”, using some chump’s blog as a news source is like going to a drug dealer for medical advice. (Based on my experience working for a professional news outlet) the average reader often mistakes an opinion or column for a news story. A blog written by some conspiracy theorists or hipster will contain more opinion then facts.

For example a headline that states “President Obama signs new bill into law despite controversy” is objective journalism. A headline that states “President Obama signs new socialist bill despite opposition from Americans” is not objective journalism. Yet it’s the second headline that will be most common in some guys blog.

That credibility is also backed by years of studying one had to do to earn a degree. Studying journalism in college means that an individual has an understanding of the media and how to be a professional journalists. These people understand media laws, what objective journalism is, along with an understanding of media ethics.

Professional journalists not only hold a degree in Journalism but also in another study to allow them to be considered a professional. Most political journalists have a degree in political science or sociology while entertainment journalists have a degree in Liberal Arts to support their arguments. So obviously there is a big difference in credibility between a movie review by some fan boy and Roger Ebert.

Also unlike bloggers, in the event of a bogus law suit a professional journalist is actually protected under media laws (bloggers are not entitled to these protection). So if a blogger is being sued because of how they acquired the information, they do not receive the same legal protection that professional journalists have.

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