Blogging by Jill Rettberg

Bloggers more and more these days are becoming part of the mainstream media. Rettberg says "On an everyday level, as blogging has become recognized as an important part of the media ecology, bloggers have been more likely to receive passes to press conferences and political conventions, which allow the bloggers to report first-hand on these events rather than leaving them to rely on reports from traditional journalism"(Rettberg, 89). Instead of bloggers having to rely on journalists for their concrete information they can get the upfront, close and personal experience. The way I think of it is that it is a primary source rather than a secondary source. Since blogging has become part of the mainstream media, it is almost certain that bloggers will get a chance to join a press conference or do an interview just like journalists have been doing for quite some time.

In response to this I think it is great that bloggers get a chance to become journalists. They get to cover all the controversial material out there and present it on their blog site. It certainly gives the society more resources to cross reference with. It may even give other journalists more sources to cross reference with as well. Before blogging came into the mainstream media bloggers had to reference to other journalists who got their information from primary sources. This meant that their information is secondary and very unreliable. Now these bloggers can get their information first-hand and it allows for less referencing to other journalists. Being a blogger and journalist is almost identical now that blogging has entered the media.