Awhile back, I was chatting with PR Newswire’s Michael Pranikoff (as social media goes this guy’s da bomb). about whether a blogger is a journalist. Defining the role of the blogger may not solve the financial crisis, but it is helpful to marketers given the positive or negative impact a blog posting can have on a person or company.

I have made it clear in previous postings that I come out of old-school journalism, which means there specific rules about what you can write. There’s a surprising amount of content online about how the rules of journalism in print versus online are different. I’ll call b*s# on that. The only difference between on and offline is the delivery mechanism. Journalism didn’t change with the advent of TV, and it shouldn’t change now. The basic rules of journalism include:
• Covering both sides of the story (objectivity)
• Never publishing based on rumor or innuendo (named sources)
• Having your story reviewed for quality and accuracy (editing)

What bugs me the most are the anonymous blogs. These sites seem to enjoy making prognostications about people and companies which by the viral nature of the Internet then appear in other blogs and links. But who made lofty statements and based on what data is never known.

The new administration has called for greater transparency in government. I think we should call on all bloggers to do the same. Otherwise, if they’re claiming to be journalists, that claim is unjustified

Posted in Marketing Mentor |

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