Carissa Davis

Junior

UNC Chapel Hill

The Rise of Blog Culture and its Contribution to the Dilution of the Professional Aspects of the Journalism

Career

CarissaDavisLong Island, NY Interned At: NocheLatina.com Interest: Fashion Journalism

Campus Involvement

Office of Diversity and Multicultural Affairs

Minority Student Recruitment Committee

Omega Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated

Carolina Hispanic Association

Que Rico Latin Dance Team

The Rise of Blogs and Blog typesBlogs: Professional Journalism vs. Civic

Journalism: The case for both sidesThe Top Five Lessons Learned

The Rise of Blog Culture and its Contribution to the Dilution of the Professional Aspects of the

Journalism Career

Blogging has created a new age of civic journalism and has even given anyone the opportunity to be a journalist without professional training

Blogs have become a significant source for news, projects, fashion trends and almost any subject one can think of

As a result of civic journalism through blogging and the variety of blog types, audiences are turning to blogs for news more often, this causes a threat to the journalism career and its professionalism

Case Study Reasoning:

The Rise of Blogs:In the past three years blogs have surged in

popularityThere are a variety of blog types

Diary blogFilter blogNews blogProject BlogHow-to BlogReview Blog

The Rise of Blog Culture

Blogger.comWordpress.comTumblr.comLiveJournal.comBlog.com

These sites have provided people with free opportunities to write and share news on the internet without professional training. This causes a dilution of the journalism career’s professionalism and possible replacement of professional journalists.

Popular Blog Sites

Study of the rise in the popularity and significance of blog use during a three year time period from 2009 to 2012 and the dilution of the journalism career as a result.

Determine how to lessen the dilution of the journalism career and continue the need for professional standards in journalism regardless of the medium used.

Main Sources of information: Literary works and interview/lectures from a professor of Journalism and Mass Communication at UNC Chapel Hill

Research Goals and Information Sources

Professional Journalism:Journalists are trained to be professional in

their career in order to accurately report news and prevent risk of spreading false information or being sued

Professional training includes historical research, audience research, grammatical and spelling training, review of ethics and media law

Blogs threaten the success and professionalism of journalism

Professional Journalism vs. Civic Journalism: The Case for Both

Civic Journalism:After the 1830s the local aspect of the press

was lost in a move toward commercial control of news and professionalism of members of the press.

Local civic press serves as a cornerstone of democracy. Eliminating local press would be a loss for the people.

The rise of blogs shows a public dissatisfaction with professional journalism

Professional Journalism vs. Civic Journalism: The Case for Both

1. Blogs can be seen as both a reversion or expansion of journalism because they were a new creation that was still connected to the older traditions of journalism.

I agree with this because although blogs add new aspects they still report the news. Professional journalists also blog.

2. Blogs did not spring up as a result of technology, there was always a call for some form of blogs, especially for civic journalists. Technology just provided the medium.

I agree with this because civic journalism existed long before blogs did. Blogs simply made civic journalism more accessible and more connected.

Top Five Lessons Learned

3, Blogs create a webbed network among writers and readers that print news cannot make. Real-time posts and comments creates competition for print.Today, readers are looking for news updated

to the second. Print news cannot do that the way blogs, internet and social media can. The sooner news can be updated, the more appealing that news medium is.

4. Blogs encourage communication and conversation between readers and authors in ways that print cannot.With blogs, readers can post their reactions

and comments on the blog and receive a response from the author within seconds. Print cannot do that in the same amount of time.

5. Professional journalists need to change the way they write and what they choose to write about in order to remain competitive with bloggers. Professional journalists need to be

competitive with bloggers by appealing to readers. Readers have interests that professional journalists have not recognized yet.

Blogs in Plain English:Web Address: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN2I1pWXjXI

Description: This video provides a clear explanation of blogs, their purpose, how they developed and their significance in professional journalism.

By Lee LeFever (Common Craft)

Four Videos on Blog Topics

What is a Blog? What is Blogging?

Web Address: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MqVbg6q2UQ

Brief Description: This video also features information on what blogs are and how they work. This video has a more comedic approach to the explanation of types of blogs.Source: Money Blog Engine July 7, 2011

10 Myths About BlogsWeb Address:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWRoakh6wGU

Brief Description: This 5:59 long video breaks down and explains some common myths about blogging and the blogosphere.

Source: Scott Rosenberg August 7, 2009

Why Some Bloggers Struggle with Affiliate Marketing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0tNQ5cv9po

Brief Description: This video describes the difference between blogs and static websites and how marketing affects them.

Source: Lisa Mach 27, 2011

Top 100 BlogsWeb Address:

http://technorati.com/blogs/top100/Brief Description: This website give a detailed

list of top blogs and websites. The website also provides links to the websites.

Source: Technorati.com is a website that focuses on technology. It gives technological information to readers.

Websites

Blogs in Plain EnglishWeb Address:

http://www.commoncraft.com/video/blogsBrief Description: This website gives an

introduction to blogs, their significance and how they operate.

Source: Common Craft is a website that provides simple informational videos on blogs and other technologies

Introduction to BloggingWeb Address: http://codex.wordpress.org/

Introduction_to_BloggingBrief Description:. This page gives detailed

descriptions of blogs. The description is broken down into various topics.

Source: Wordpress is one of the major blog websites.

A Short History of Blogginghttp://www.blogherald.com/2005/03/06/a-shor

t-history-of-blogging/

Brief Description: This webpage gives information about the rise of blogs and their climb to popularity

Source: The Blog Herald is a website that gives news and updates about the blogoshpere.