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Are you a Blogger or a Journalist?

December 14, 2011 at 11:17 pm Leave a comment

Is blogging journalism? Perhaps it all depends, as President Clinton once asked, on what the meaning of “is” is.

Read “The Atlantic” magazine’s Rebecca J. Rosen’s piece “Why We Should Stop Asking Whether Bloggers are Journalists” in which she examines the possible implications of the recent legal decision that purports to answer the question of who is a journalist vs. who is merely a blogger. She describes a case where a judge weighs decisively against a non-mainstream, non-affiliated media….i.e. a blogger, and found that blogs by such ‘non-journalists’ not employed by fulltime traditional news organizations, are not qualified for any of the privileged protections accorded by various state “shield laws.”

While the discussion certainly will continue over who qualifies to be called a journalist, here is an alarming report showing the increasing numbers of journalists jailed worldwide for just trying to do their job.

Similarly, Reporters Without Borders examines the issues of media censorship, harassment, expulsion, and murder of journalists

Additional Press Freedom issues can begin to be explored from links and resources at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_the_press

Entry filed under: Journalism, News & Views.