Blogging news stories as they unfold is one of the most exciting and controversial applications of technology
that bloggers have discovered. One thing that makes the blogosphere so active is the fact that it is possible to
update a blog instantaneously, so the news on blogs tends to be more current than the news in the paper, or
on television. Unlike news delivered by these other media, news that appears on blogs does not have to
travel through a series of editors and administrators before it reaches the public eye. This has some
advantages, and some distinct disadvantages.
One of the most notable cases of news hitting a blog before appearing in other media took place in July 2005
when terrorism struck London. As passengers were evacuated from a subway car near an explosion, one
man took several photographs of the scene with his cellular phone, and within an hour these images were
posted online. First-person accounts of the catastrophe began appearing on blogs soon after these photos
appeared, and people all over the world learned about the events in London by reading the words and seeing
the photos posted by bloggers.
The fact that these stories and images were being spread directly by individuals operating without the added
filter of a reporter helped to make the crisis feel very immediate to people across the globe. When it comes to
blogging, news often appears in a very personal context.
This has the potential to be the beginning of an exciting new era of reporting, one that takes “New Journalism”
to it’s logical next step by putting the power to shape how the news is written and read directly into the hands
of the public.
Many bloggers and cultural commentators who are champions of the weblog movement feel that this
growing trend of individuals who getting their news from blogs is a good thing, because it makes the flow of
information more democratic. By decentralizing the control of news, blogs allow more voices to enter the
field of debate about important current events.
However, many people are adamantly opposed to the use of blogs as news outlets, and there are plenty of
good arguments on this side of the debate. Unlike newspapers or television stations, few blogs have fact-
checkers, and there is little attention paid to journalistic accountability on many blogs.
This can lead to the rapid spread of misinformation, and more than one falsehood has taken the blogosphere by storm. The questions about whether blogging news as it happens is ethical or not are very complicated, but no matter where you stand on the topic of current events blogs you are almost sure to agree that this movement has the potential to revolutionize how modern people get their news.
You Might Want to take a look on Next Big Thing from Creators of Atomic Blogging, where author is revealing their Microblogging’s Profiting Secrets.
Viewed 155 times by 50 viewers
