There I was on a Friday night ready to get away from blogging for a few hours. I’m settled in front of the TV watching a film called Contagion.
Suddenly I hear the words:
“A blog is not writing. It’s graffiti with punctuation”
With those words in the movie Elliott Gould dismissed Jude Law a blogger who was attempting to shed light on some devious government policy . But this blogger wasn’t being respected because he wasn’t from the traditional media such as television or newspaper.
My first thoughts were how different the blogging scene is in America. Blogs may not be respected by some as journalistic master pieces, but they’re known by many, it doesn’t feel like that in the UK. To many over here, when you tell them you’re a blogger, they ask “What’s one of them?”
Well, this comment got me thinking to hard, I just had to open up my computer and start writing.
Do I think it fair we be compared to journalists? I suppose by definition they have taken some form of formal training for their craft and have had to put in time perfecting their craft. Yet here are we bloggers coming from all forms of backgrounds with no training, and often no experience in writing, who throw together a post and get it published out into the blogosphere.
I for one have found that I’ve moved away from reading the daily newspapers and instead get much of my information on the latest news and sports information from blogs. The nearest I get to a newspaper nowadays is when its wrapped around my fish and chips.
Technology allows everyone to be connected and have access to whatever information they seek. There are some great bloggers out there and they may not be as eloquent with their wording as some of the traditional journalists but they sure know how to write a really good read, and give you information, knowledge and news.
Bloggers put their words out there for a wide variety of reasons. Some of us do if purely for self expression while others blog on subjects they are passionate about whether to do with politics, economics, fashion, exercising, dieting …
Many blogs have a huge influence on those that read them. And each blogger brings with them their uniqueness, individuality, expressing themselves and sharing their passions. In my beliefs there are a few journalists out their that can learn a few things from us.
Whatever our background, however long we spent learning our art, if we are able to write the words that move others, inspire them, make them laugh, motivate them to take action, then we are good writers whatever our medium.
So if you want content, information and news nowadays you are spoilt for choice. Just find the voices that appeal to you. They may exist in newspapers, glossy magazines, on a television screen or in a blog post. Each plays its role, and serves its readers well.
Blogging not only plays a key role in modern society it’s also here to stay. So get used to us bloggers, our writing styles may be different, but enough people like reading what we have to say.
