PressEthic

check out what Gawker has to say about the new deal here. It's true that sometimes Gawker posts inaccurate information, but I think that's where the gossip part comes in. I have found the site useful in the past for tracking down media ethics ideas.

I've noticed something similar on Google News. I signed up for an email alert of articles-- well, full disclosure-- on a certain NY writer currently on the lamb for his Halloween rape & torture fest. (I'm not proud of it, but hey, he's running around the city! The story's a true testament to how easy it is to get "lost" in New York City.) I noticed that in the feed, I was getting updates from Jossip and Gawker. Not really "news" sources, are they?

Re: "Not really 'news' sources, are they?"

I think this is part of the debate that has been happening around journalism and blogging in general. What constitutes something as a news source? Many people don't respect blogs as journalism or news sources (and true, many of them don't even pretend to be that), though more and more people are getting their information from said blogs. Kind of an interesting situation.

hmmm....

Until bloggers get out on the streets, travel to distant parts of the globe, speak face to face with politicians/industrialists/chief executives/sports stars, they will not be "news" sources. They will merely continue to act as second hand mouthpieces unless they have the resources and/or inclination to conduct original reporting.

I acknowledge and encourage the fact that they can point out disparities between different news sources, and criticise the sometimes less obvious bias and agendas that MSM may have, but if every newspaper, magazine, radio and TV station in the US shut down tomorrow, there would be no way that bloggers could generate their own original material. Until that is the case, they will not in my view represent original "news sources," any more than does a chat show which discusses news which has already been originally reported by another organisation.

RE: Until bloggers get out on the streets, travel to distant parts of the globe, speak face to face with politicians/industrialists/chief executives/sports stars, they will not be "news" sources:

This has already happened. It really depends on the nature of the blog. Many blogs that don't do this street reporting receive a lot of information from PR folk and inside sources which allows them to do actual reporting. Other blogs are more in the realm of media criticism.

What about military bloggers? Certainly they are in the thick of it, and have been enabled to convey their unadulterated experiences through their blogs. Reporting doesn't require a license, just motivation.

I completely disagree with your assertion that "if every newspaper, magazine, radio and TV station in the US shut down tomorrow, there would be no way that bloggers could generate their own original material." After all, aren't we, as journalism students, learning how to generate our own original material? All it takes is a pen, paper, and a whiff of the reporting spirit!