We Are Not All Journalists Now

This chapter disputes the widespread belief that technological developments have made us “all journalists now”. While accepting that blogging and independent online news sites challenge both established perceptions of journalism and supposedly authoritative journalistic accounts of the world, we argue that they have clear differences from established journalistic norms, most notably in their commitment to the ‘truth’. We agree that blogs are a valuable addition to the public sphere and potentially offer the opportunity of a more bottom-up and participatory democracy. However, the rise of blogs on established news sites and the increasing use of user-generated content on those sites suggest a colonisation of the blogosphere by mainstream journalism. To a large extent, the professionals have maintained their gatekeeping role in the new environment and have become the arbiters, ethical guides and role models for the many amateurs using the new technology. While we conclude that anyone who commits to the professional norms we outline has the right to call themselves a ‘journalist’, regardless of their organisational status or the platform on which they deliver authoritative content, the crude generalisation that all bloggers are ‘journalists’ cannot (and should not) be supported. Journalism is too important to cheapen in this way.