"Is Blogging Innovation Journalism?" Q & A!

In the article, "Is Blogging Innovation Journalism?" by Patrick Baltatzis, five concepts and ideas are asked about innovation journalism. They include:

• "How is quality conceived and achieved in an environment of abundant, transitional, and complex information?"
• "What qualities, skills and tools are required to assimilate, digest and then distribute relevance and meaning where attention is more valued than most physical goods?"
• "How does new media technology fit into all this?
• "How do RSS-feeds and easy web-publishing tools (i.e. blogs) and podcasts contribute to interesting stories, good journalism, and the future of publishing?
• "How is journalism changing and what does the future hold?

The author continues to expand on these questions by interviewing journalists and examining the use of blogs as a reporting tool. He begins by taking a look at the importance of journalism for a democratic society.

Democracy is a broad, loose and somewhat undefined concept that can be interpreted in a variety of ways. Journalism, in a big way, is vital to the idea of democracy. As democracy innovates through changes in social, economic and political shifts, certain aspects gain popularity and power over others, causing changes in an overall structure. One example given by Baltatzis is the use of MTV broadcasts and reporting in Eastern Europe in the 1980s. As residents locked behind the Berlin Wall were able to see what existed in the outside world, they began to resist their Communist leadership and demand a change, demand their freedom. The use of SMS-messaging (text messaging) in Iraq for civic reporting also played importance in spreading the word to a mass audience. With the growing popularity of the Internet, many journalists have opted to take advantage of the easy-to-use technology and virtually endless audience to get their news out to the world.

What exactly is a blog? According to Baltatzis, a "blog is a publishing innovation, a digital newswire that, due to the proliferation of the Internet, low production and distribution costs, ease of use and really simple syndication (RSS), creates a new and powerful push-pull publishing concept." Readers are able to get news with the click of a mouse, looking at today's news and what's to come. Subscribing to news feeds allow people to receive news updates automatically as they happen - people no long have to go look for the news. Blogs also provide an open forum for debate and discussion, since readers can respond by commenting on a journalist's blog or by posting a rebuttal post on their own blog. “Trying to engage audiences in conversation should be a primary goal for news organizations. It’s what a democracy needs and what news organizations are meant to support,” wrote the authors of Hypergene, a blog committed to furthering the concept of citizen journalism.

Blogs are very relevant to journalists doing professional work. They allow them to put out new ideas and arguments that can often lead to news stories and follow-up stories on either sites. There are, however, some issues with blogging. Since many feel that blogs are just an easy way for people to voice opinion or rant about something, the issue of trust and truthfulness comes up. Blogging may also take away from readership in traditional magazines and newspapers.

Despite the negative, journalists should continue their quest in the blogging world. According to Baltatzis, blogging not only builds legitimacy in society, but also, "the transitional nature of business and media consumption must be considered if publishing houses want to prevail in their chosen markets." Blogs allow information to be shared quickly and easily around the world and with others who may, if it were not for blogs, would be left in the dark. By providing reliable and truthful information, blogs can aid communities in growing. Communities not only thrive on reliable and relevant information, but also enjoy the openness to the audience, even allowing people to partake in making stories.

Everything here boils down to one simple question: Is blogging considered innovation journalism? To be considered innovative, something must be new or differently introduced and changed from traditional customs. Given that definition, blogging would definitely be considered innovation journalism. Not only is it interactive for the audience, but it is becoming something like we have never seen before. It is providing an open forum for readers, a way of discussing news that they would typically not be able to with a traditional newspaper. People are able to get up-to-date news faster and almost anywhere in the world. Blogging has broken down barriers that have long been set by classic journalism reporting, opening the door to a new world of ideas.

Posted by: Michael Strachan