Journalists do it every day do bloggers have the same stamina?
Tom Foremski, for Silicon Valley Watcher
I've worked as a software engineer, granted, it wasn't for long, not much more than a year. But I know what the work is like and the challenges within that profession.
However, I wonder if software engineers, many of whom are also bloggers and critics of mainstream media, know much about journalists and how they do their jobs?
If people think journalism is much like blogging, then anybody can be a journalist. I often tell people if they can write an email, they can become a blogger, as a way of encouraging them to start blogging.
But journalism is definitely nothing like blogging, and it requires a professional class; I don't think an army of bloggers with day jobs has the ability to can fill the shoes of professional journalists and provide society with the type of high-quality media that it needs.
Yes, anybody publish but that doesn't mean a thing. It's the same as the fact that anybody can be their own courtroom lawyer, and we know the punch line to that one...
Similarly, society would be foolish to be reliant on just anybody producing its media, imho.
Here's a description of some of my work as a journalist at the Financial Times--working as part of a team with the ability to report and publish high quality news in minutes. . .
