Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Reaction Chapter 4

For class today, we had to read chapter 4 of Blogging America by Aaron Barlow. The chapter starts off comparing two different perspectives of viewing the internet. The horizontal perspective is one in which decisions come through a group as a whole. This differs from the vertical perspective which consists of hierarchy and people tending to rise up until they reach a level where they are unable to perform efficiently (Barlow). He later goes on to talk about how blogs usually fit more into the horizontal structure, while commercial and news organizations have more of a vertical format. Barlow also talks about two different types of journalism, the traditional oppose to the newer journalism. The “newer” type of journalism consists of bloggers and citizen journalists who are sometimes called amateur because they do not have the appropriate resources, skills, and ethics to write news like the traditional journalists. There is also the problem of them just giving their opinions and not the important facts, according to Barlow.

Going back to Barlow and the two different structures, the newer journalists see themselves writing in a horizontal fashion, while the professionals are seen more as experts and as gatekeepers. Barlow begins to talk about the concept of crowdsourcing. This is an attempt to combine both of these groups together to help each other create better journalism. The reading talks about how commercial news media could release stories that aren’t completely “newsworthy” to the internet, where the amateur journalists can do research and put the story out there faster and to more people. This proves the point that journalism does not have to be set up in a vertical structure in order to work (Barlow). According to the reading, many news media are unwilling to try this new concept due to resistance by professional journalists. If they are willing to give up some of their vertical control, then journalists could also work with their readers to develop stories. This would strengthen the public sphere, bring the community together, and help create an informed populace (Barlow).

I believe that citizen journalism is a good idea. I know that when I read news online, I always scroll to the bottom to see what people think and are blogging about. I like to see what other people’s opinions are and how they are interpreting what I am reading. Although it hasn’t really hasn’t taken off, I think that the lessons Dan Gilmor provided in the Barlow chapter would really help it become more successful.


Barlow, Aaron. Blogging America. (2008). The Blogs, Political Issues, and the Press (Chapter 4).

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