In the introduction of the Kline and Burstein book blog! a Reuters report describes blogs as a place where gossip is spread while also serving as an outlet for people increasingly disenchanted with mainstream media. Perez Hilton’s celebrity blog and Matthew Drudge’s blog are direct examples of this definition.
Thanks to Matthew Drudge the entire world found out about President Bill Clinton’s extramarital affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Another thanks to Perez Hilton for informing die-hard celeb fans that Lindsey Lohan was using cocaine in a bathroom stall at a L.A. nightclub.
Blogs like Matthew Drudge’s act as a checks and balances system of the government. In today’s society, large corporations own a lot of newspapers and news networks and these company bigwigs can impede on and influence the material being discussed in the media outlets. However, blogs are a tool accessible to mostly anyone in order to raise issues that a lot of people are concerned about or want to know more about.
It is unbelievable that blogs have become such a huge part of everyday life. Some people probably don’t even realize that what they are looking at is in fact a blog. Burstein says this growing art form known as blogging is just like conversation, “One member of a tribe initiating another, one generation speaking to the next, one group of humans inspired by and reacting to the ideas of those who came before. The conversation continues and is stored and archived for future access.
I completely agree with Burstein’s description. Blogs tell stories that inform just like stories you hear from your great-grandparents. While some of the information may be a little or a lot exaggerated and would be better characterized as a legend, blogs are just a more futuristic way of storytelling.
I agree with Burstein that blogs are not a passing fad. While they have been around since 1997, they didn’t generate attention until the 2004 presidential election making a huge impact in the cyber sphere. I had no idea that during the months leading up to the election, August in particular, that the ten most popular political blogs had 28 million readers collectively, rivaling the viewership of the three cable news networks. WOW!
Now that newspapers have online editions it makes it easier for the average citizen to comment on an article and by doing this another reader does the same and it becomes somewhat like a blog: People discussing, arguing and informing others. Blogs are everywhere it seems like.
Back to the political aspect of blogs…they not only give the average citizen a voice, but also they help to transport information, questions and concerns to those like potential presidential candidates. For instance, the CNN YOUTUBE presidential debate. While the debate is not a blog per se, it operates in somewhat of the same fashion. Someone looks at the questions and concerns that the average citizen has posted/written and passes them on in order to get the information that the person is requesting. Like Burstein says in the introduction, ““everyone” not has a meaningful shot at being heard as well.”
Kline and Burstein say that according to a Pew Research study, 45 percent of Americans don’t believe what they read in papers or see on television. This is astonishing, but I completely agree. When I watch TV or read the paper I have a little voice in my head telling me to proceed with caution, not of this may be true. Which is why I think blogs are great outlet for everyone. Corporations are even getting on the blog bandwagon.
According to a Reuters report included in the Kline and Burstein book, blog! the word blog was one of the most looked-up words on the Internet in 2004 and because of this it became a new entry on the 2005 version of the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition.
Kline and Burstein make a great case that blogging is the way of the future. I was absolutely shocked to find out that the word blog was one of the most looked up words on the Internet in 2004. However, why is it that when I type the word blog in Microsoft Word it comes up as misspelled?
Blogging or reading blogs are a guilty pleasure for some and an informative tool for others. Regardless, as a journalism student, I agree with Kline and Burstein, blogs are definitely not a fad.
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3 comments:
While newspapers and television news programs are cirticized for being baised, their honesty in giving the news has never seemed to be in question. Newspapers and television news programs are held to a standard of media ethics. However, bloggers are not held to the same ethical standards. Yes, it is true that TMZ kindly asks people who leave comments to do so in a truthful and nondefamatory way, yet if one took the time to read these comments it would become apparent that honesty is not of any importance or part of any guideline.
I really like your observation that some people "aren't even aware that they are reading a blog." In the blogosphere, how do people recognize where information is coming from? While the media is growing larger with the invention of blogs, who can check on the validity of bloggers' posts?
Good post. You raised a lot of good points and explored several of them to appropriate depth.
My favorite moment? "I was absolutely shocked to find out that the word blog was one of the most looked up words on the Internet in 2004. However, why is it that when I type the word blog in Microsoft Word it comes up as misspelled?"
Oh, what a great metaphor for the future of the computer industry. You could spin off a great post just from that one observation.
Make sure you double-check your spacing. one of your paragraphs got jammmed up somehow.
And identify the book you refer to; your audience is not all from your class.
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