Busting on Anti-blog Bias

Popular blogger Eric Scoble recently defended the blogging industry at a Fortune conference to avid proponents of traditional or "old-school" journalism. As its his industry as well as his livelihood, Scoble defends blogging as a viable medium for journalism on a regular basis. He is slowly, steadily, changing minds. After reading his spiel after the conference, it is easy to see why he is making some headway.


One of the greatest criticisms of blogging as a mode of journalism or as a news medium is that there is no system of fact-checking, no mandated research. In fact any average Joe can post a blog and attempt to pass off their opinion as fact. Scoble counters that the beauty any blog is that its audience is the fact-checking mechanism. If a blog is credible, it will have an audience that will respond to posts quickly, pointing out inaccuracies and errors. He adds that errors are made in traditional journalism as well, despite diligent research. Corrections appear weeks or months later, if they appear at all. Another important point Scoble makes is that the media can be misinformed about a person's actions or beliefs, and often the person who was misinterpreted has no recourse against the media having a heyday at their expense. Conversely, with a blog, if someone feels they have been misrepresented they can go directly to the blog and tell their story, unedited and unfiltered.


I tend to agree with Scoble on most accounts. However even as a proponent I have my grievances. Above all I feel that there is room in the world of journalism for both traditional print journalism and for blogging. Both have their strong points as well as their imperfections, and at least for now, both are here to stay. It's time to stop arguing about their validity and instead work together to provide the world with savvy journalism.