Blogs as Hard News

JT Alexander, 21, checks a blog on Blogspot.com for class


By: Anne Connaughton

Although industry professionals consider blogs a credible source for daily news, readers have not embraced the trend.

The concept of a blog can be difficult to grasp. Anyone can write one. There are blogs on virtually any topic. Blog hosting web site, Blogspot.com, does not even have a comprehensive top 10 list. Instead, they post recent top ten lists on a variety of subjects. Some featured this week are Top 10 TV Blogs, Top 10 Librarian Blogs, and 10 Blogs Every Lawyer Should Read.

Recently, blogs have even been used to cover breaking news stories. With the wealth of technology on hand for the average person, citizen journalism is a common phenomenon. Someone can conceivably take a picture of a local disaster on their camera phone, upload it to their blog with a quick description in much less time than a traditional newspaper would take to be alerted of the news and cover it.

The question is, does the public trust their news from just anyone?

Seth Bailey, 27, a graduate student, from Covington, Ga., worries about the motivations behind news-based blogs. He feels that a blogger only caters to their own interests, while a traditional news sources is conscious of a wider audience.

“You’re only getting one side, not all the news,” he said.

Although he stays clear of blogs, Bailey does go online twice a day to read his news from online formats of his favorite papers. The Internet is easier for his lifestyle than a traditional newspaper, he said, because he spends a lot of time on the computer and often the exact story he is searching for pops up quickly.

“I’m more often in front of a computer screen than a newsstand,” Bailey said.

Hannah Wilson, 20, an art education major from Commerce, Ga., agrees that blogs are too opinionated for hard news. She commonly reads four newspapers a week, and only ventures online for celebrity gossip and the type of news she would not be likely to find in a daily, local publication.

“I like the idea of a team putting out my paper,” Wilson said, “Not just one person. That gives the paper different opinions, there’s protagonist and antagonists and positive and negatives in stories that are developed in newsrooms.”

Ashlee Berryhill, 20, a business administration/management major from Cochran, Ga., has the opposite opinion. Berryhill reads The Red and Black daily, and her hometown newspaper, The Cochran Journal, on weekends when she goes home.

Berryhill rarely turns to the online version of stories for her news, preferring a tangible newspaper because she can carry it with her all day long and read it when she likes.
However, she would consider a blog as a primary source of news. Berryhill likes the ability to comment on news stories, and likes more information than only what was presented that these posts offer.

Newspapers are rushing to compete with the upswing in blogging, and are hiring professional bloggers to their sites. Maybe this trend will make for a people’s wider acceptance of a blog as a credible news source.

Many recent graduates are entering the blogging industry, and Sara Idacavage, 22, an editorial intern for Dailycandy.com, is one such individual. Dailycandy.com is a site devoted to the entertainment, culture, and lifestyle of various major cities. According to Idacavage, 99 percent of her job is fact checking, looking up anything in a blog that isn’t an opinion.

Before her current position, Idacavage was a student at the University of Georgia and co-founder of a blog, Thepopcouture.com, a blog that ties pop culture references to what’s happening in the fashion industry. She started this blog because she saw a need for a different kind of fashion blog.

“So many blogs are just runway shows or selling some $700 dress,” she said, “I’m just not a blog person—I wanted something I would read.”

According to Idacavage, Dailycandy.com is a professional blog because of the effort spent fact checking and making sure the stories stay fair and accurate. Thepopcouture.com is more fun and personal, though she does feel that people take her more seriously with a blog on her business card.

Because of her experience at her current position, Idacavage believes a blog can definitely be a source for credible hard news.

“I mean, even CNN has a twitter,” she said, “So I wouldn’t rule it out.”

Edited by: Robert Burns