The Loop asks “Do Bloggers offer ‘real’ news”?

It’s become popular in the last year or so to examine the roll of bloggers in the media. I’ve shared a number of those here at Dallas South, and here’s the latest done by a new site called The Loop.

See the entire Loop article by clicking here.

Brooklyne Gipson interviewed yours truly for the story as well as L.N. Rock A.K.A. the African American Political Pundit. Here are some of the highlights from Ms. Gipson’s article.

• This year, to the dismay of some traditional journalists who view bloggers as a threat to journalistic integrity, the number of bloggers invited to the convention Aug. 25-28 in Denver has more than quadrupled to 124. The list of credentialed blogs include a few popular among African Americans: Jack and Jill Politics, African American Political Pundit, and Pam’s House Blend, to name a few.

• Still, it has not stopped the incessant debate over whether bloggers, even with press passes in hand, should be considered real journalists. This issue has become especially important in this year’s presidential election, because constituents are using the Internet like never before to engage themselves in the campaign- reading up on the issues…

• Bloggers, such as L.N. Rock, the writer behind AfricanAmericanPoliticalPundit.com, argue that the lack of regulation in the medium is one of its best attributes and makes it a more authentic form of communication. “We (bloggers) don’t have to worry about what the readers think,” Rock said. “We kind of say it the way it is… Unlike journalists, they have to go through many layers to get it approved. They have to switch it up and change it so many times, to appease editors.”

• Shawn Williams, who writes the DallasSouthBlog, is glad to be able to provide his version of the news in his role as a citizen journalist.“By definition, citizen journalists are not ‘real’ journalists,” Williams said. “But many journalists aren’t ‘real’ these days anyway. Look at Fox News, what they are doing isn’t real journalism. So I don’t apologize one bit for having access to many venues that I would have been laughed at for trying to get into two years ago.”