Blog Credibility

Today as I was poking around some of the photography blogs I follow, I started thinking about the piece by John W. Jordan and our discussion over it. The article focuses on how blogs were used during the War in Iraq, but in doing this he makes an interesting point about how mainstream media, and people in general, discredit blogs. He wrote this in 2007, and many things have changed since then. From my own experience, I think that the general acceptance of blogs has increased.

There are blogs written about anything from food, to politics, to the grass you walk on. I follow a few, including ones on food, photography, and technology news, and I have since high school. I check these blogs on a daily basis for news, recipes, and camera tips. It is interesting that I started looking at these blogs around the same time the article was written. Granted, the blogs I follow aren’t strictly “news blogs,” but they are used in the same way. I’m not saying that all blogs are one hundred percent true, but many today are more truthful, as bloggers want to establish themselves in the online community. You still have to be mindful, but I think most people can decide for themselves what is and is not true on the Internet. Sure, there are biased blogs, but I could almost guarantee that you could find a blog written with the opposite opinion.

It was said in class that “we have a hierarchy of where we get our news,” but I feel that today blogs are higher up on that chain. From my experiences, people around the age range 18-25 are more accepting of blogs, and reference them often. The argument some bigger news sources make about them lacking journalistic credibility is ridiculous. Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines a journalist as “a writer who aims at a mass audience,” and that is just what a blogger is.