Blogs: New Wave in Journalism or a Waste of Time?
today's siege:
/got something from email, whaddya think?/
Blogs: New Wave in Journalism or a Waste of Time?
Web logs, or "blogs," have been growing in popularity over the last several years. A blog is really just a Web site formatted in a particular way, with periodic (daily, weekly, or whenever you get around to it) entries. These entries may be of the "dear diary" type, snippets of professional information, dedicated to a particular subject (such as politics) or just about anything else the blogger feels like writing about on a given day.
This can be done with any Web design software such as FrontPage, but software specifically made for blogging makes it easier. For instance, with some blogging systems, you don't even have to go to the blog site to make a post - you can just e-mail it to a special address and it will be posted on the site automatically. There are a number of free public blog sites where you can set up your blog, including Blogger and MSN Spaces. You can also provide an RSS (syndication) feed for your blog so that your readers will be notified when you update it.
Once upon a time, not so long ago, becoming a publisher on any scale larger than producing the photocopied office or neighborhood newsletter required the investment of a lot of time and money. In the 90s, as Internet access became affordable and available to the general public, that changed. Ordinary people could publish whatever they wanted on the World Wide Web and distribute it not only nationally, but globally. Having a Web site became the "thing to do" (and some pretty awful Web sites were created in the process).
The blog concept grew out of that and gave "freedom of speech" a whole new meaning, as anyone with a computer and an Internet account could reach thousands, even millions of readers half a world away. In the U.S., the Internet has been relatively unregulated, which encouraged bloggers to say whatever they felt, without worrying about consequences. There is also an illusion of anonymity connected with the Internet; although in reality it's possible to track users through their IP addresses back to their ISP accounts, a blogger can write under a pseudonym and most readers won't know his/her identity.
For the first time, blogging played a significant part in a presidential election. Bloggers on both sides took their arguments to the people via the 'Net. Candidates raised large amounts of their campaign money online. Blogging became more than an amusing hobby; it began to be seen as a means of propaganda as well as information, and sometimes it's difficult to know which is which.
Inevitably, the government has stepped in. It was reported last week that the Federal Election Commission (FEC) is now considering imposing rules on blogs similar that would require disclosure if a blogger receives political funding. This has ignited a big controversy. Those in favor argue that political advertising has had this requirement for a long time. Those opposed reply that pundits (commentators, columnists) who use print or TV don't have to make such disclosures.
Overall, blogs seem to be one of those things that you either love or you hate; there's little middle ground. Some see creating a blog as an act of egotism and reading them as a voyeuristic waste of time. Others see blogging as the logical evolution of the information age or even the savior of journalism in the wake of an accelerating loss of credibility on the parts of traditional media outlets. What do you think? Do you have a blog, or do you want one? Do you read blogs? If so, do you do it for fun or as a source of information? Do you think blogs are more or less credible than newspapers and TV? Should the government regulate bloggers? Let us know your opinions at feedback@wxpnews.com.
/got something from email, whaddya think?/
Blogs: New Wave in Journalism or a Waste of Time?
Web logs, or "blogs," have been growing in popularity over the last several years. A blog is really just a Web site formatted in a particular way, with periodic (daily, weekly, or whenever you get around to it) entries. These entries may be of the "dear diary" type, snippets of professional information, dedicated to a particular subject (such as politics) or just about anything else the blogger feels like writing about on a given day.
This can be done with any Web design software such as FrontPage, but software specifically made for blogging makes it easier. For instance, with some blogging systems, you don't even have to go to the blog site to make a post - you can just e-mail it to a special address and it will be posted on the site automatically. There are a number of free public blog sites where you can set up your blog, including Blogger and MSN Spaces. You can also provide an RSS (syndication) feed for your blog so that your readers will be notified when you update it.
Once upon a time, not so long ago, becoming a publisher on any scale larger than producing the photocopied office or neighborhood newsletter required the investment of a lot of time and money. In the 90s, as Internet access became affordable and available to the general public, that changed. Ordinary people could publish whatever they wanted on the World Wide Web and distribute it not only nationally, but globally. Having a Web site became the "thing to do" (and some pretty awful Web sites were created in the process).
The blog concept grew out of that and gave "freedom of speech" a whole new meaning, as anyone with a computer and an Internet account could reach thousands, even millions of readers half a world away. In the U.S., the Internet has been relatively unregulated, which encouraged bloggers to say whatever they felt, without worrying about consequences. There is also an illusion of anonymity connected with the Internet; although in reality it's possible to track users through their IP addresses back to their ISP accounts, a blogger can write under a pseudonym and most readers won't know his/her identity.
For the first time, blogging played a significant part in a presidential election. Bloggers on both sides took their arguments to the people via the 'Net. Candidates raised large amounts of their campaign money online. Blogging became more than an amusing hobby; it began to be seen as a means of propaganda as well as information, and sometimes it's difficult to know which is which.
Inevitably, the government has stepped in. It was reported last week that the Federal Election Commission (FEC) is now considering imposing rules on blogs similar that would require disclosure if a blogger receives political funding. This has ignited a big controversy. Those in favor argue that political advertising has had this requirement for a long time. Those opposed reply that pundits (commentators, columnists) who use print or TV don't have to make such disclosures.
Overall, blogs seem to be one of those things that you either love or you hate; there's little middle ground. Some see creating a blog as an act of egotism and reading them as a voyeuristic waste of time. Others see blogging as the logical evolution of the information age or even the savior of journalism in the wake of an accelerating loss of credibility on the parts of traditional media outlets. What do you think? Do you have a blog, or do you want one? Do you read blogs? If so, do you do it for fun or as a source of information? Do you think blogs are more or less credible than newspapers and TV? Should the government regulate bloggers? Let us know your opinions at feedback@wxpnews.com.