Blending Responsibilities and Passions

January 2, 2009 · Filed Under Reviews by Purnima·

Ever since they became popular in the late 90s, the blogs have been used by people to their convenience. Some have used them to share experiences, views and opinions, some use them to inform the public, some write to vent their frustration, the others live their passion through them. Where as the conventional connotation attached to the use of blogs have termed them as ‘personal space’ but the most debatable use of the blogs has been for journalism.

Enabled by the emergence of World Wide Web and with the advancements in technology, the blogs became the most powerful forms of interactive media. Realising their potential, many of the main steam media professionals shifted to the world of blogging to reach out to a wider audience and guage the public opinion.

This blend of journalism and blogging have been a bag of mixed experiences. While some have appreciated them for being unbiased versions, the other school of thought have given it a harsh beating. The criticisms that it attracts are mainly due to the mixing of duties and passion for blogging. The most powerful use of this new age media tool called ‘blog’ has been interactivity which keeps the audience better informed and develop deeper relationships. But the most difficult aspect has been to maintain the authenticity and credibility of their content.

A journalist who has to abide by the editorial policies and political bent of their media institution can only experince their fundamental right of ‘Freedom of Speech and Expression’ through blogging. The blogs hence can be termed as unreguated. But if anything posted on the journalists’ personal space goes against the organisation’s policies can lead to severe consequences putting it in a bad light. The credibility gained over the years both by the media organisation and the journalist could be lost in minutes.

Again although there’s always some level of the credibilty attached to the word of the mouth of a journalist, the defined ethics like objectivity are bound to be violated if the informtion is completely unregulated.

However useful or abused it might be, blogging has revolutionized the sharing experience. Today every person has its own story to say and also a freedom to make a choice of the medium he uses. Essentially what difference does it makes whether you read it on the World Wide Web or while sipping your bed tea?

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