|
commoncraft.com
According to CommonCraft, in the 21st century news became professional AND personal. |
CommonCraft has posted another of its delightful low-tech-looking video tutorials:
Blogs in Plain English. I found it interesting that this video starts right off by defining blogs as fundamentally a "new way to share news."
In the video, Lee LeFever explains: "In the 20th century, news was produced professionally. When news happened, reporters wrote the stories, and a tiny group of people decided what would appear in the newspaper or broadcast. Professional news was mainstream, general and limited."
LeFever continues: "The 21st century marked the point where news became both professional and personal. A new kind of web site called a weblog (or blog, for short) came onto the scene. This let anyone become a reporter and publisher, often for free. As blogs became popular, they created millions of news sources that gave everyone an audience for their own version of news. Of course, we're using the word "news" loosely -- but really, isn't everything news to someone?"
...OK, I'm sure LeFever's explanation raises the hackles of many professional journalists. While I don't agree with him entirely (since blogs can be used to deliver any kind of content, not just news), I do think this video reflects the way people outside the pro-journalism bubble perceive the role of blogs. And I think it's also useful to remember that there's much more to news than just journalism.
