[mdlug] Is MS bribing bloggers?

[Robert Adkins]

Michael Corral wrote:
> 2006-12-29, Monsieur allen a ecrit:
>   
>> Look at the bright side. Since this is a classic problem all journalists
>> face it makes it more difficult to dismiss the claim to the status of
>> journalist, by bloggers.
>>     
>
> That argument is not logical. Politicians face the same ethics issues.
> Does that make them journalists?
>
> Bloggers are just people who feel like saying something, and they put
> whatever it is they want to say on the web. That doesn't make them
> journalists. There's a craft and a whole host of skills involved with
> journalism (e.g. investigative techniques, reporting skills), and
> practices that professional journalists have to abide by (e.g. peer
> and editorial review), that bloggers don't have to deal with.
>
> Journalism is one of those things that I think you really do need to
> go to school and study. I knew some journalism students when I was in
> college, and I got an idea of the kind of things they learn that would
> separate them from just anybody with a blog. You can get an idea here:
> http://journalism.berkeley.edu/program/overview.html
>
> Michael
>   
    Even going to school to learn journalism doesn't mean that the end 
result will be a journalist. I know this is only anecdotal evidence, 
however, I did date a woman who was a journalist, had a journalism 
degree and yet her news stories were highly opinionated pieces that were 
far from reporting. She was acting more as a biased pundit than she was 
acting as a journalist. Instead of the the truth of a matter, she was 
reporting an emotionalized opinion on the matter. (Which really wasn't 
that far from what you get upon many blogs.)

    -Rob