Blogging has been compared to baking bread for the first time -- as far as we know of. Dan Brown uses baking bread in a his latest column to explain why citizen journalism and blogs won't replace journalism.
Here's the thing: Journalism takes an investment of time and effort. Citizen journalism is going to remain a limited enterprise because the average person just doesn't the time or energy to spare.
Let me demonstrate my point with an analogy. The technology also exists for the average person to make their own bread, but how many of us do so? You'd have to buy a bread maker, round up the ingredients, then dedicate a part of your day to baking. Most of us figure it's easier and more convenient to let the professionals handle all of that, so we make a mental trade-off and pick up our bread needs at the grocery store.
This is the same logic that will keep journalists in business for a long time to come. Just because the technology exists for the average person to have a global audience, that doesn't automatically mean lots of people are going to take advantage of that technology. I'm not saying the average person is lazy; I'm saying the average person already has a packed schedule with a day job and a family to tend to, so he or she will continue to let trained professionals do the lion's share of the information gathering and distribution.
Investigative journalism is very time consuming and fits very well with what Dan Brown is saying. However, it is easy to argue that some forms of journalism are directly threatened. Newspaper commentary on music, movies, television, etc. can be challenged by bloggers. Anyone can watch the latest movie or listen to the latest album and give their opinion on it in a blog. Most of these bloggers will not have a background nearly as deep and rich as some of the entertainment columnists but you can bet that a few will. Some local bloggers may know as much about their city or town as the local newspapers' journalists do. There are also many tech bloggers that know as much about technology and the latest products as the technology journalists do. So, there are areas where blogging and citizen journalism is a threat to the mainstream media -- especially if the bloggers take the time to "bake bread." Dan Brown also has an article about the future of newspapers. (via The Blogging Journalist)
