Complementary Angles

            Blogs and traditional media, in the eyes of many, are diametrically opposed in their missions, qualities, and content. However, as blogs have evolved from their origins as “weblogs” of daily activities into the huge variety of news reports, themed information, daily or weekly stories, and all of their other flavors, some of them have become much closer to the mainstream media than many might have believed possible, years ago. This does not mean, though, that more traditional media sources will become obsolete as blogs take over their functions. In fact, many of the blogs that have the closest relationship to traditional news outlets also have the greatest need for them.

            Firstly, most news-oriented blogs still rely on the mainstream media for their information, but take the facts and provide an analysis or opinion on them rather than the simple, more “journalistic” reporting of the media. For example, in the article “New Media, Old Media,” by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism, it is stated, “more than 99% of the stories linked to in blogs came from legacy outlets…,” which include such organizations as CNN and The Washington Post (1). However, rather than merely restating the facts of the news, “bloggers have largely taken on a different role – one of observation, analysis, and interpretation,” as Homero Gil de Zuñiga writes in Blogging as a Journalistic Practice (589).

This role of interpretation is aided by the fact that, on a blog, it is possible for the public to comment directly on a story, and for a wide variety of opinions to be heard at any given time. As the Pew Research Center study found, “unlike in some other types of media, the partisanship here does not lean strongly to one side or the other,” with a mix of liberal and conservative voices chiming in on most issues (“New Media, Old Media” 1). This is in stark contrast with traditional media, which are often either biased strongly for one side or interested only in reporting the facts, and not what they mean, especially in the most traditional media, newspapers, where the only way to include “comments” from the general public is through Letters to the Editor.

            Because of the distinct differences in style and application between online news and traditional news sources, and the fact that online media almost always refer to established media for their story sources, it seems that both sources of news stories will stay relevant in the future. Blogs can “scrutiniz[e] their [mainstream media’s] reporting, hold[…] their feet to the fire, and keep[…] stories alive until large news organizations pay more attention,” while the mainstream media can, at the very least, provide fodder for bloggers looking for a scapegoat (Gil de Zuñiga 589). These two complementary sources are very much here to stay.

Works Cited

Gil De Zuñiga, Homero, Seth C. Lewis, Amber Willard, Sebastian Valenzuela, Jae Kook Lee, and Brian Baresch. "Blogging as a Journalistic Practice: A Model Linking Perception, Motivation, and Behavior." Journalism 12.5 (2011): 586-606. Sage. Web. 28 Mar. 2012. <http://jou.sagepub.com/content/12/5/586.full.pdf+html>.

"New Media, Old Media." Project for Excellence in Journalism. Pew Research Center, 23 May 2010. Web. 28 Mar. 2012. <http://www.journalism.org/analysis_report/new_media_old_media>.