CSM: What is a Journalist?

The answer to that question was once easy. Until the Internet, journalists were typically attached to an established organization that could afford to own and run a newspaper, magazine, radio or TV station, TV network, or cable news outlet. Their credibility was both individual and institutional.

For all of its flaws, and despite often high entry costs, this marketplace of ideas has flourished. Journalists know that transparency and fairness in how they cover the news are critical.

But in the Internet age, the cost of distributing news has become minimal. Almost anyone can set up a web log ("blog") or send a mass e-mailing, and present themselves as someone who surveys the public scene and presents "news." Some of these lone-wolf reporters are a refreshing challenge to the usual pack journalism of old media. Reputable reporters hear the howl and see if the yapping is worth pursuing. They benefit from the range that bloggers offer. More . .

http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0318/p08s02-comv.html

http://www.spj.org/ethics_code.asp

Preamble
Members of the Society of Professional Journalists believe that public enlightenment is the forerunner of justice and the foundation of democracy. The duty of the journalist is to further those ends by seeking truth and providing a fair and comprehensive account of events and issues. Conscientious journalists from all media and specialties strive to serve the public with thoroughness and honesty. Professional integrity is the cornerstone of a journalist's credibility. Members of the Society share a dedication to ethical behavior and adopt this code to declare the Society's principles and standards of practice.

Seek Truth and Report It

Journalists should be honest, fair and courageous in gathering, reporting and interpreting information.

<snip>

Minimize Harm

Ethical journalists treat sources, subjects and colleagues as human beings deserving of respect.

<snip>

Act Independently

Journalists should be free of obligation to any interest other than the public's right to know.

<snip>

Be Accountable

Journalists are accountable to their readers, listeners, viewers and each other.

<snip>

because they don't do this:
"Diligently seek out subjects of news stories to give them the opportunity to respond to allegations of wrongdoing."

Most bloggers just write what they think.

is that some too may be propagandists under the loose standards befitting amateurs outside the "code". The catch is that entire blogging enterprise only gets the respect it earns by practicing a now dead occupation(according to how that code applies to corporate owned journalism as a whole). It hardly does the type of damage that media network can even if it avoids source checking.

Due to the abdication and treacherous propagandizing of the lettered journalists of the corporate news, any amateur or outsider is open to prove their worth and identification as a true journalist. The fact that it is up for grabs is more important than any perceived advantages of the Internet. The Internet only provides a power the major media cannot quash since they won't compete with it by living up to journalistic standards from A to Z.

The media thought they were safe from amateurs embroiled by egos and nutcases and found themselves only looking into a mirror while real journalism emerged in a new national forum.

The freedom to write what thinks and not having that be an act of measured heroism liberates the truth from counter weights. Thanks again to "real" journalists simply not doing the job, they are free to develop. Operative word: Freedom.

Of course, I would say the same about the Corporate Media, too. True journalists are a rare breed these days; without them, the foundations of democracy are crumbling.