Blogging is Already a Profession for Many
Posted on January 7, 2006
Journalist Dan Brown has written an article for the London Free Press called "Will blogging become a profession in 2006?" Brown says, "While there's no doubt blogging is a widespread activity, for the vast majority of people it's not a paying proposition. Just check the classifieds. You won't find many employers who are tripping over themselves to hire bloggers." Brown is correct that most people aren't getting paid to blog -- studies have shown that many blog just because they want to and not for money. However, there are growing number of bloggers that already consider themselves professional bloggers. There are also people who work with blogs in marketing or handle the technical end of blogs for a blog hosting company. So, the answer to Brown's question is that blogging was already a profession before 2006. In his article, Brown also points out that many of the stories in newspapers are Associated Press or Canadian Press stories that are repeated in hundreds of newspapers. Reuters stories are often repeated as well as different newspapers and news websites carry Reuters feeds.
Oh sure, there are online journalists who spend part of the workweek doing original content. And there are many journalists whose work does double duty -- who are employed by old-media organizations, such as wire services, that also have an Internet presence. But there are a limited number in the U.S. who have full-time paying gigs producing Web-exclusive content. In this country, there may be none.Brown is correct that Marshall's hiring of two blogger-reporters is an interesting development. Just as Marshall is hiring reporters to blog for TMP Cafe there are hundreds of newspapers that will be giving journalists blogging assignments in 2006. There will probably be thousands of journalists that become bloggers this year as the newspapers they work for add blogs. These blogs will help the newspapers offer more local news and opinions and differentiate themselves from the same AP and Reuters stories that every news website already has.The impression one gets is the opposite -- that there are a limitless number of news organizations in cyberspace. But try this experiment the next time a major story breaks: Go to Google's News function and do a search. You'll see that hundreds of outlets are carrying the story -- and it's often the same Associated Press or Canadian Press report that each individual site is carrying.
This is why one Web site hiring a couple of blogger-reporters may turn out to be a big deal. If Marshall can provide one more source of original reporting, he will be doing us all a favour. He will be lighting the way, helping to prove what we in the media have been saying all along: that content truly is king, whether it's The New York Times or a blog.