I posted this as a response to Ajit Jaoker's post on his excellent OpenGardens blog. You won't read my response there because it was written as a reply to Ajit posting the same item on Forum Oxford, which we both belong to.
Anyway, since it was so relevant to the content of this blog - I thought I ought to record it here, too.
As a journalist (at least that was how I once described myself) of almost 20 years experience, it's hard for me to admit - but the role of the pro is being marginalised by the wisdom of crowds.
But as an evangelist for the new ecology - it makes me excited about the future.
There are some areas where the pro still has advantages - notably access to exclusives and trust with traditional advertisers - but as I've argued in this post (niche brands need ugc, broad brands need ultra exclusives) - when the whole world is a blogger there's no way you have enough control to claim an exclusive.
And over time advertisers will learn that the trust is vested in the community not the brand itself. Response rates will teach them,
But there's an argument that the relevance of the professional journalist lives on - for 'journalist' read blogger. For 'professional' read reputation systems. For 'Highly resourced' read community-funded.
Simply: The professional journalist of yesteryear is being replaced by a community-validated blogger, who gets paid through models like ohmynews or, less-aggregated, google adsense etc.
If his community grows large enough to support his efforts full time - he can perform this role full time.
Journalist2.0 lives and dies by his relevance to his community and reputation as judged by all (now everyone is his employer).
And there is no professional or technical barrier to entry.
One conclusion to draw is that the arrival of blogging deprofessionalises journalism. It makes it something anyone can do and anyone can contribute to.
That's why the likes of Alan Moore describe the arrival of the blogging platform as being as significant as Gutenburg and his printing press. It's all about the decentralisation, the relaxation of control, on information.
We should all end up with a closer approximation of the truth.
The further ahead you look - the faster you go | davidpcushman AT gmail.com | These are my views and my views only.
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The rate of change is so rapid it's difficult for one person to keep up to speed. Let's pool our thoughts, share our reactions and, who knows, even reach some shared conclusions worth arriving at?
True, to some extent, but a community-validated blogger, with no legal knowledge, for example, will soon end up in legal trouble.
ReplyDeletePlus anyone can do it, but it takes time and effort to find the contacts etc to make something worth reading, unless your job etc already provides you with these tools.
And you're already up against huge, established blogs.
It makes the entry point more accessible, but it won't take any less skills and knowledge to rise to the top.
Plus online journalism is so underpaid it's very tricky to commit to full time at present, even with the pay outs from some sites.
To respond to Badger, I think we need to more closely define news print creators: journalists offer analysis on a topic, whereas a reporter is someone who is on site to witness what is happening. The fact that individuals who have no motivation beyond to express themselves are reporting online makes blogs more trustworthy in a way. Plus of course the number and spread of bloggers mean there is always likely to be somebody on hand to experience the news on our behalf.
ReplyDeleteThe journalist-style bloggers are quite often non-writers themselves. A lot of industry professionals and academics choose to make their analysis of a situation public through a blog. Who do you think has a deeper understanding of the topic, a professional journalist or an industry specialist?